Egypt: Lawyer fears activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah will be held beyond prison release date
Egyptian-British writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah may be detained beyond his five-year sentence, which is due to end on 29 September, his lawyer warned.
The writer and political activist was initially held on 28 September 2019 after sharing a social media post raising awareness about a fellow prisoner who allegedly died as a result of torture.
After Abd el-Fattah’s arrest, he was referred to the Supreme State Security Prosecution, which charged him in a case numbered 1356, with joining a terrorist group, spreading false news, and misusing social media.
The writer was subsequently held in pretrial detention for two years.
Abd el-Fattah was referred to a new trial on 10 October 2021 before the Emergency State Security Court, which sentenced him two months later to five years in prison. The sentence was ratified by the military governor on 3 January 2022.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
According to his lawyer Khaled Ali, Abd el-Fattah would have completed five years in prison on 29 September 2024, but authorities intend to keep him in prison until 3 January 2027.
Ali clarified that the former date marks five years since his initial arrest in 2019 and includes pre-trial detention, whereas the latter date is five years from the ratification of his sentence.
“This effectively nullifies the time he served from September 2019 to January 2022, with the claim that this period was part of his pretrial detention in Case No. 1356 of 2019, which has not yet been concluded,” Ali said in a statement.
'For sharing a post'
When Abd el-Fattah was arrested in September 2019, he had already been serving what authorities call probationary release, which required him to stay in a police station between 6pm and 6am everyday.
This was related to a separate case brought against him following his participation in an anti-government protest in 2014.
Abd el-Fattah’s legal team has filed complaints with the Public Prosecutor to have his sentence calculated from the date of his 2019 arrest, based on articles 482 and 484 of the Egyptian constitution, which states that the period of pre-trial detention is part of the total prison sentence handed out to a defendant.
Ali pointed out that the activist’s sister, Sanaa Seif, had been released after authorities considered her pretrial detention period as part of her sentence.
“Why was the law applied correctly to Sanaa but not to Alaa? Why insist on keeping him in prison until January 2027 merely for sharing a post?” Ali asked.
Abd el-Fattah has been detained in Egypt repeatedly over the past decade over his expression of views critical of authorities.
Human rights defenders, including his family and several international rights groups, have been advocating for his release from what they consider a politically motivated imprisonment.
Abdel el-Fattah's mother Laila Soueif said last week that she is expecting that her son will be released by the end of the month.
“He should be released. If he doesn’t, we will consider this a violation and an assault,” Soueif said in an interview with her daughter, Sanaa Seif.
Sanaa Seif said the family hopes the law will be respected and that her brother will be released and be allowed to reunite with his son Khaled who lives in Brighton in the UK.
The family has called on the new Labour government to pressure Egypt to release Abd el-Fattah, who became a British citizen in 2021.
Middle East Eye delivers independent and unrivalled coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and beyond. To learn more about republishing this content and the associated fees, please fill out this form. More about MEE can be found here.
