The 43-year-old British-Egyptian national, who was pardoned alongside five others, was a leading figure in Egypt’s 2011 uprising and has been repeatedly jailed since.

Following his latest arrest in 2019, Abdel Fattah was sentenced in December 2021 to five years in prison for “spreading false news” after sharing a Facebook post about alleged torture in Egyptian jails.

Tarek al-Awady, a member of Egypt’s presidential pardons committee, said all procedures for the pardon had been finalised and the prison was awaiting the arrival of the presidential decree to implement it.

“He will be released directly from Wadi al-Natrun Prison,” Awady told AFP, referring to a major prison complex located on the outskirts of Cairo.

The state-affiliated Al-Qahera News channel had earlier reported that Sisi pardoned “a number of convicted persons, after taking the constitutional and legal procedures in this regard”.

“The pardon includes… Alaa Ahmed Seif El-Islam Abdel Fattah,” added the channel, which is linked to Egypt’s state intelligence service.

Alaa’s mother, the activist and academic Laila Soueif, recently ended a 10-month hunger strike demanding his release.

Abdel Fattah himself has been on hunger strike since the start of September, following a partial strike that began in March in solidarity with his mother.

“President Sisi has pardoned my brother! Mum & I are heading to the prison now to inquire from where Alaa will be released and when,” Abdel Fattah’s sister, Sanaa Seif, posted on X.

“I can’t believe we get our lives back!” she added.

His other sister, Mona Seif, also posted shortly after the pardon, saying: “My heart is going to stop.”

Abdel Fattah’s sentence was due to end in September 2024, but authorities refused to count his remand period as part of his sentence.

His lawyer, renowned rights defender Khaled Ali, confirmed his release, however adding: “The pardon decree has not yet been published in the official gazette. The release process will not begin until that happens.”

– Pardon petition –

Monday’s pardon comes after Sisi earlier this month ordered relevant authorities to study a petition submitted by the state-affiliated National Council for Human Rights to pardon a number of individuals, including Abdel Fattah.

It also followed a decision by a Cairo criminal court to remove Abdel Fattah from the country’s terrorism list, ruling that recent investigations showed no evidence linking him to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

Human Rights Watch described the pardon as “long overdue good news”, calling for the release of other dissidents.

“Though we celebrate his pardon, thousands of people like Alaa are still languishing in Egyptian jails simply for exercising their rights to freedom of speech,” said Amr Magdi, HRW’s senior Middle East and North Africa researcher.

“Hopefully his release will act as a watershed moment and provide an opportunity for Sisi’s government to end the wrongful detention of thousands of peaceful critics.”

The British government has consistently raised Abdel Fattah’s case with Egyptian authorities, including during talks between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Sisi.

In May, a United Nations panel of experts determined his detention was arbitrary and illegal and called for his immediate release.

Last month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk also urged the Egyptian authorities to end a practice allowing the prolonged arbitrary detention of government critics.

The practice, known as “rotation”, often involves lodging new charges against detainees just before their remand period comes to an end.

Turk said the practice “appears to be used to circumvent the rights of individuals to liberty, due process and equality before the law”.

Since 2022, Sisi’s administration has released hundreds of detainees and pardoned several high-profile dissidents, including Abdel Fattah’s lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer.

Despite Abdel Fattah’s pardon, hundreds of other activists and politicians remain behind bars.

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© Agence France-Presse