Overview

• President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a clemency decree on September 22 that freed Abdel Fattah and five other people held for political reasons.
• Authorities had projected his release for January 2027 because they did not credit two years he spent in pre-trial detention.
• He was serving a five-year sentence imposed in December 2021 for what a special court deemed the spreading of false news on Facebook.
• The National Council for Human Rights formally asked the presidency to use its constitutional powers to grant a pardon.
• British officials pressed for his release and his mother, Laila Soueif, staged prolonged hunger strikes, while the presidency has not explained its rationale for the clemency.