Reunion of Alaa Abd el-Fattah with Family After Prison Release

This is the moment British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah was reunited with his family after being released from prison in Egypt on Tuesday 23 September. Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pardoned the British-Egyptian activist after he spent six years in prison. The 43-year-old writer and father had become one of Egypt’s most prominent political prisoners, having spent most of his adult life in jail on what human rights groups said were trumped-up charges. Mr Abd el-Fattah was initially sentenced in 2014 for “protesting without permission” and later re-arrested in 2019 on accusations of spreading fake news. Mr Abd el-Fattah’s mother Laila Soueif has campaigned tirelessly for his release, including through a hunger strike that lasted for more than 280 days.