Travel ban on Egyptian activist Alaa Abdelfatá lifted

MADRID, December 21 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Egyptian authorities have lifted the foreign travel ban imposed on Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdelfatá, who was released from prison on September 23 after nearly a decade of detention. Abdel Fattá was one of the most prominent figures in the revolt that led to the fall of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime in 2011, as part of the Arab Spring.

“Thank God, Alaa Abdelfatá’s name has been removed from the travel ban lists,” Abdelfatá’s lawyer, Khaled Ali, posted on his X account.

Abdel Fattá tried to leave the country last month from Cairo to London, where his family lives, but authorities prevented him from boarding the plane. He is also a British citizen, but Egypt does not recognize dual nationality.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattá al Sisi granted him a pardon at the request of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) and he was eventually released along with five other activists: Said Magli Eleua, Karam Abdelsamea Saadani, Ualaa Gamalsaad Mohamed, Mohamed Auad Abdo Mohamed, Mohamed Abdeljaleq Abdelaziz Abdelatif and Mansur Abdeljaber Ali Abdelrazek.

Abdel Fattá has spent much of the last decade behind bars due to criticism of Egyptian authorities. Furthermore, his family reported that the activist never received a consular visit during his stay in prison, which is why he and his mother went on a hunger strike.

The activist was arrested in 2014 for participating in a protest not authorized by the government and for allegedly assaulting a police officer. Authorities briefly released him in 2019, although he was rearrested as part of a crackdown on a wave of calls for anti-government protests in the North African country.

Abdelfatá was sentenced to five years in prison and should have been released in September 2024, although authorities then refused to count the time he spent in detention awaiting trial as part of his sentence.

Al-Sissi, who came to power through a July 2013 coup that he led after a series of massive protests against then-president Islamist Mohamed Morsi – the country’s first democratically elected leader who died in 2019 during a trial against him following his arrest after the riots – launched a harsh campaign of repression against various opposition groups.