Family and rights groups urge Egypt to free imprisoned activist as his 5-year sentence ends

LONDON — Rights groups and the family of convicted Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah on Thursday called on authorities to release his a the end of his five-year sentence next week.

Abdel-Fattah, an outspoken dissident, rose to prominence with the 2011 pro-democracy uprisings that swept the Middle East and in Egypt toppled long-time President Hosni Mubarak. The 42-year old activist spent most of the past decade behind bars and his detention has become a symbol of Egypt’s return to autocratic rule under President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

He was first sentenced in 2014 after being convicted of taking part in an unauthorized protest and allegedly assaulting a police officer. He was released in 2019 after serving a five-year term but was rearrested later that year in a crackdown that followed rare anti-government protests.

In late 2021, Abdel-Fattah was sentenced to five years after being convicted of spreading false news.

But his release at the end of that term is not assured as he still faces other charges in Egypt, including allegations of misusing social medial and joining a terrorist group — a reference to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that authorities declared a terrorist organization in 2013.

More than 59 Egyptian and international rights groups signed the appeal, expressing concern at Abdel-Fattah, who obtained a U.K.-passport in 2022, could not be released for years into the future.

In the statement, the groups "expressed their deep alarm at news, shared by his lawyer, that the Egyptian authorities do not plan to release Alaa until January 2027.” The statement did not say how the lawyer obtained this information.

They warned that not releasing Abdel-Fattah on Sunday would violate the country's penal code, which deducts time spent in detention before trial from the total sentence.

An Egyptian government media officer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Abdel-Fattah's lawyer could also not be reached for clarification.

Abdel-Fattah and his family have campaigned for his release for years. In 2022, he intensified a hunger strike in prison and halted all calories and water to coincide with the start of the U.N. climate conference, known as COP27, in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Concerns for his health intensified as the family was barred from seeing him. They stepped up their campaign to draw attention to his case and those of other political prisoners in Egypt. He stopped the strike after a matter of days, after he collapsed and fell unconscious, describing it later in a letter to his family.

The hunger strike drew attention to Egypt’s heavy suppression of speech and political activity. Since 2013, el-Sissi’s government has cracked down on dissidents and critics, jailing thousands, virtually banning protests and monitoring social media. Human Rights Watch estimated in 2019 that as many as 60,000 political prisoners are incarcerated in Egyptian prisons.

At a London news conference on Thursday, Abdel-Fattah's sisters Sanaa and Mona, called on British authorities to press for their brother's release.

Each day after Sept. 29 that Abdel-Fattah spends behind bars is a "grave atrocity on top of everything else he has had to endure,” said Mona Seif, according to a statement released by the family.