Authorities refuse to free Alaa Abd El Fattah, pushing release date to 2027

Political prisoner, writer and activist Alaa Abd El Fattah was due to be released on September 29, after five years in detention.

Instead, the activist is set to spend another two years in prison, his lawyer Khaled Ali said on Sunday.

Authorities have refused to consider the two years Abd El Fattah spent in remand detention before he was referred to trial as part of the time of his sentence, Ali said on Sunday in a post published on social media.

Abd El Fattah’s mother was permitted to pay a visit to her son where he is held in Wadi Natrun Prison on Sunday. His sister published a post on social media, quoting her mother saying that “Alaa’s condition is as can be expected under these circumstances.” 

Abdel Fattah was arrested in 2019, amid rare popular anti-government protests which took place in several cities across Egypt. 

He was held in remand detention for two years pending investigations conducted by the Supreme State Security Prosecution into charges often leveled against people arrested in relation to their political activity: “joining a terrorist group, spreading false news and misusing social media.”

He was later referred to trial for the false news charges only, with a court ruling him guilty in 2021 and sentencing him to five years in prison. 

It is illegal for authorities not to deduct the two years Abd El Fattah spent in remand under investigation as part of his sentence, defense lawyer Nabih al-Genady told Mada Masr on Sunday. Genady voiced uncertainty with regard to Abd El Fattah's future even after his sentence comes to an end in 2027. All scenarios remain open because the authorities are not following the law, he said. 

He speculated that authorities could refer Abd El Fattah to trial again on the felony charges he was being investigated for in 2019, putting the potential of another long period in remand detention on the table for the activist who has already spent the majority of the last decade in prison.

Abd El Fattah served a prior sentence of five years between 2015 and 2019 for violating protest laws introduced after the 2011 Revolution.

He was also arrested and convicted for a short period in 2014 for insulting a policeman.