Overview

• Egypt’s presidency said President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi pardoned Abd el-Fattah and five other detainees, removing the rest of his sentence.
• His sister confirmed the decision, and relatives went to the prison to learn the timing and conditions of his discharge.
• Abd el-Fattah, a leading figure of the 2011 uprising, was serving a five-year State Security Court sentence imposed in 2021 for alleged false news after a 2019 arrest.
• His incarceration continued beyond the planned Sept. 29, 2024 release date after authorities declined to credit two years of pretrial detention.
• He holds a British passport, had been on hunger strike since Sept. 1 according to his mother, and UN experts labeled his detention arbitrary, drawing sustained international pressure.