The Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has pardoned Abd el-Fattah, the Egyptian-British blogger and activist who rose to prominence in the Arab Spring.
TV channels close to the government reported his release.
Repeated family campaigns and pressure from the British government, including a plea from Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Sisi in February, had previously failed to secure his release.
43 year old Abd el-Fattah, spent almost all of the past decade in prison, most recently serving a five-year sentence that was imposed in December 2021 after he shared a social media post about a prisoner’s death.
Abd el-Fattah served spells in detention before the 2011 revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
However, his fortunes darkened when former army chief Sisi ousted Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, and a clampdown took hold after security forces killed hundreds of protesters.
Abd el-Fattah became known for his blogs and social media accounts that gave voice to the Arab Spring protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
He was sentenced to five years in prison in 2015 for protesting without permission. Released on probation in 2019, he was reunited with his young son, but was required to sleep each night at a police station.
Detained again in September 2019, Abd el-Fattah was sentenced again to five years in December 2021 on charges of spreading fake news.
Reuters/Shakirat Sadiq