Dear friends,
Back in May, we wrote these words to you:
“He has served his sentence but almost eight months later he is still behind bars. Alaa Abdel Fattah is one of the leading figures in the fight for freedom of expression in Egypt.”
Today, we’re thrilled to share some wonderful news: for three weeks now, Alaa Abdel Fattah has been free!
Alaa is an Egyptian-British blogger and activist who spent almost a decade imprisoned in Egypt on arbitrary charges. He was released at the end of September following a presidential pardon and has since been reunited with his son and mother — who had waged a long hunger strike for his freedom.
We played a key role in the campaign that led to his release, working hand in hand with his family, other NGOs, MPs and the British Government. Nobel Prize laureates, writers and public figures around the world also joined their voices to call for Alaa’s freedom.
This powerful outcome was made possible thanks to the massive mobilization of supporters like you — and to your generous donations. This victory belongs to all of us. Thank you for standing with us.
But the fight is far from over. For Alaa, it remains unclear whether he will be allowed to travel to the UK where his young son Khaled lives. And for countless other Egyptian journalists still behind bars, the future remains uncertain. The president of Egypt’s Journalists Syndicate Khaled al-Balshy said he hoped it would be followed by a review and release of all “fellow journalists whose freedom is restricted, as well as all those imprisoned for expressing their opinions”.
