ALAA’S STORY

Alaa Abd el-Fattah is finally free.

Alaa has long been one of Egypt’s most prominent voices for freedom of expression and digital rights. His struggle began in 2006, when he was first jailed for taking part in a peaceful protest. This targeting continued for years, and just months after the January 25, 2011 revolution, Alaa was locked up and awaiting military trial, forced to miss the birth of his son, Khalid — just one of many precious moments snatched away over a period of 14 years by the Egyptian authorities. 

In 2013, he spent 115 days in jail without trial, which led to a five-year sentence with an additional five-year probationary period. In 2019, Alaa was wrongfully re-arrested on allegations of spreading fake news and joining a terrorist organization. He was then confined to a prison cell. By December 2021, he was handed an absurd five-year sentence on trumped-up charges, with the years he spent in prison while awaiting trial not counted toward time served. 

Behind bars, Alaa endured years of inhumane treatment and isolation. On April 2, 2022, following years of unlawful imprisonment, mistreatment, and torture, Alaa shaved his head and started a hunger strike on the first day of Ramadan. A week later, on April 11, hope came briefly when Alaa’s family announced that he had obtained British citizenship in 2021 through his mother, opening up potential new avenues for his release. Shortly after, he undertook a seven-month hunger strike leading up to COP27 and escalated it into a water strike, bringing him dangerously close to death. In 2024, Alaa and his mother, Dr. Laila Soueif, launched new hunger strikes to protest his continued imprisonment, which was happening despite his scheduled release in September that year. From outside Downing Street, Laila, then 69 years old, demanded that the UK take decisive action to secure her son’s freedom. She was hospitalized twice with dangerously low blood sugar but remained steadfast in her protest. Her strike, alongside Alaa’s, reignited international outrage and renewed calls for his immediate release.

After tireless campaigning by his family, human rights organizations, and supporters around the world — and despite repeated delays and injustice — Alaa was finally freed on September 23, 2025, following a presidential pardon by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Alaa’s release is a testament to relentless solidarity, but his ordeal underscores the dire state of human rights and freedom of expression in Egypt. His story is not only one of resilience, but a call to continue fighting for every voice still silenced behind bars.