Alaa Abdel Fattah, collecetd photo

CAIRO, Sept 9, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi 
ordered authorities on Tuesday to study a petition for a presidential pardon 
for prominent rights activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, the state-affiliated human 
rights council said.

Sisi "directed the relevant authorities to study the petition" submitted by 
the National Human for Rights Council to pardon a number of individuals, 
including Abdel Fattah, a dual Egyptian-British activist who has been jailed 
for much of the past decade.

The 43-year-old activist was a leading figure in Egypt's 2011 uprising and 
was jailed under successive governments since.

His mother, activist and academic Laila Soueif, recently ended a 10-month 
hunger strike demanding his release.

Abdel Fattah himself has been on hunger strike since the start of September, 
following a partial strike that began in March in solidarity with his mother.

The Egyptian presidency did not comment on the petition and the move does not 
guarantee Abdel Fattah's release, as the pardon process can be lengthy and 
remains at the discretion of the president.

The British government has consistently raised his case with Egyptian 
authorities, including during talks between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and 
Sisi.

The council said in a statement that the petition came in response to appeals 
from the prisoners' families "to grant them a new chance in life".

Following Abdel Fattah's latest arrest in 2019, he was sentenced in December 
2021 to five years in prison for "spreading false news" after sharing a 
Facebook post about alleged torture in Egyptian jails.

Authorities told his family they had decided not to count his two years in 
pre-trial detention, which normally counts towards jail sentences in Egypt.

In July, the criminal court ordered his removal from the country's terrorism 
list, ruling that recent investigations showed no evidence linking him to the 
outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

The United Nations has called his detention arbitrary and urged his immediate 
release.

While Egypt has recently issued presidential pardons for several political 
prisoners, Abdel Fattah has remained behind bars.