The Egyptian president forgives an eminent activist

The president of Egypt has forgiven an eminent British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, who has been imprisoned for six years, say the state media and his lawyer.

Abdel Fattah is one of the six people, including the president of convictions Abdul Fattah al-Sissi, had a request from the National Council for Human Rights, according to Al-Qahera News. His lawyer confirmed the news and wrote on X: “Praise to God”.

The 43-year-old blogger and pro-democracy activist is one of the best known political prisoners in Egypt.

He was arrested in 2019, months after finishing a previous sentence of five years, and sentenced in 2021 to “disseminate false news” for sharing an article on Facebook on torture in Egypt.

He should have been released in September 2024. However, the Egyptian authorities refused to have the more than two years that he spent in prior detention in his time.

He and his mother, Laila Soueif, organized hunger strikes to protest against her imprisonment.