Egypt’s Sisi orders review of possible pardon for detained activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has instructed authorities to study the possible pardon of high-profile Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, according to a statement issued Tuesday by the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights.

Abd el-Fattah, 43, is a leading symbol of resistance to authoritarian rule and has spent most of the past decade in prison.

Earlier this month, his mother, Laila Soueif, said in a social media post that on September 1, he had begun his latest hunger strike in protest against his detention. He had previously staged a hunger strike beginning on March 1.

“President Sisi directs the relevant authorities to study the petition submitted by the National Council for Human Rights to issue a presidential pardon for a number of convicts,” the council’s statement said, listing Abd el-Fattah’s name among seven others.

His sister, Sanaa, welcomed the development, writing on X: “This is really promising, we hope these authorities follow through with urgency and that Alaa will be reunited with us soon.”

Abd el-Fattah first rose to prominence as an impassioned voice during the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled Egypt’s longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak. He became one of the most prominent critics of Egypt’s subsequent clampdown on dissent, particularly following the 2013 military takeover led by then-army chief Sisi.

He was first jailed for five years in 2014, the year Sisi became president, after being convicted of protesting without permission. Released on probation in 2019, he was detained again that September during a wave of arrests that followed protests against Sisi. In December 2021, he was sentenced to a further five years for sharing a social media post about the death of a prisoner.

Few months ago, in a separate legal development, a Cairo criminal court on July 21, 2025, ordered Abd el-Fattah’s name to be removed from Egypt’s terrorism lists, where it had been included since September 2019. His lawyer, prominent rights attorney Khaled Ali, said the court based its decision on security investigations that found he was no longer engaged in any activity on behalf of a terrorist group. The ruling lifted all legal consequences of the terrorism designation, including a travel ban, asset freeze, and prohibition on holding public office.

Earlier this year, Abd el-Fattah also undertook a hunger strike in solidarity with his mother, who staged her own lengthy strike in Britain as her health deteriorated over his continued imprisonment.

He moved to a partial hunger strike in late July, after his removal from the terrorism list, while his mother ended her strike earlier that month.