Egyptian activist out on probation after five years in jail
CAIRO: Egypt’s most prominent pro-democracy activist, Alaa Abdel Fattah, was released on probation yesterday after five years in prison on charges of organising an illegal protest.
The outspoken dissident and blogger, who was an iconic figure of the Arab Spring revolution that unseated longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011, was reunited with his family after being released from Tora Prison, in Cairo’s southern outksirts.
“Alaa is out,” his sisters proclaimed on social media.
His younger sister Sanaa Seif posted a short video clip of him playing with his dog.
Abdel Fattah now faces five years of strict supervision under a November 2017 appeals decision that reduced his original prison sentence.
He will be required to sleep every night at his local police station, a security source confirmed.
The secular activist and software developer, who has written extensively for progressive media, was caught up in the sweeping crackdown that followed the army’s overthrow of elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
A wave of arrests initially targeted Morsi supporters, with thousands of Islamists detained and hundreds sentenced to death or long prison sentences after cursory mass trials that have been condemned by the United Nations and international human rights watchdogs.
But the crackdown swiftly widened to include secular opponents of the new regime installed by then army chief now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.