Sisi Considers Clemency Bid for Activist Abdel Fattah

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has instructed officials to examine a petition seeking a presidential pardon for jailed activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, according to the state-affiliated National Council for Human Rights.

The council said Sisi had ordered the “relevant authorities to study the petition” it submitted requesting clemency for several detainees, including Abdel Fattah, a dual Egyptian-British national who has spent most of the past decade behind bars.

Abdel Fattah, 43, was a prominent voice during Egypt’s 2011 uprising but has faced repeated imprisonment under successive governments. In his most recent case, he was arrested in 2019 and sentenced two years later to five years in prison for “spreading false news” after posting online about alleged torture in Egyptian prisons. Although he spent two years in pre-trial detention, authorities refused to deduct that time from his sentence.

His family has continued to campaign for his release. His mother, academic and activist Laila Soueif, recently ended a 10-month hunger strike, while Abdel Fattah himself began a full hunger strike at the start of September, after months on a partial strike in solidarity with her.

Although the move by Sisi signals a possible opening, it does not guarantee Abdel Fattah’s release. The pardon process is often lengthy and is ultimately subject to the president’s discretion. The Egyptian presidency has so far declined to comment on the petition.

The British government has regularly raised Abdel Fattah’s case with Cairo, most recently during Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s talks with Sisi. In July, an Egyptian criminal court ordered Abdel Fattah’s name removed from the country’s terrorism list, citing a lack of evidence linking him to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

The United Nations has described his detention as arbitrary and repeatedly called for his immediate release. While Egypt has granted presidential pardons to several political prisoners in recent years, Abdel Fattah has remained behind bars despite mounting international pressure.