Egyptian President Abdel Fatta El-Sisi ordered the release of prominent activist Ala Abd El-Fatta, reported on Monday by Egyptian state outlet Al-Alam.
42-year-old dual-Egypt-An English citizen, Abdoel Fatta, remained in prison last year despite completing his sentence.
His sister Mona confirmed his release on X early Tuesday, and posted a photo of the activists shining as they reunited with their family.
“A very kind day. Alaa is free,” she wrote.
ABD Elfatta, who was repeatedly arrested for the height of the 2011 Egyptian uprising, was sentenced to another five years in prison in 2021 for spreading false news and attacking police officers.
According to Egyptian state media, he was forgiven by an executive order along with five others. An official campaign representing Abd El-Fattah confirmed the pardon on Facebook.
The family did not recognize the pardon before it was reported by the state media. Abd el-Fatta’s cousin Omar Robert Hamilton told CNN.
“We found live shows with the media just like everyone else,” he said.
The pardon was also welcomed by rights groups that have long sought the release of activists. Am Magdy, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the pardon was “long postponed good news.”
“We celebrate his pardon, but thousands of people like ALAA still suffer in Egyptian prisons just to exercise their rights to free speech,” he said in a statement. “Hopefully his release will act as a turning point and provide an opportunity for Shishi’s government to end the illegal detention of thousands of peaceful critics.”
Hope for Abd el-Fatta and others grew this month after Egypt’s official national council urged them to be released.
The council called for their release, “in light of the important family circumstances facing their relatives.”
Since taking power in 2014, Sisi, a former military general, has long faced criticism for cracking down on opposition, imprisonment activists, journalists and opposition figures.
Abd el-Fatta has served most of the past 14 years pre-trial detention or sentenced for terrorism and national security crimes. This is “widely used by Egyptian authorities to silence dissent,” a group of UN experts said in February.
The writer and blogger activist fell ill after joining at least four separate hunger strikes to protest his repeated detention.
His mother, Laila Soueif, a mathematics professor at Cairo University, began his own hunger strike last September last year to demand the release of his son.
The 68-year-old Soueif lost 30 kilograms (66 pounds) in the process and ended the strike after being given assurance that the UK government would prioritize the release of her son, rights group Amnesty International said.
