| Alaa Abd El-Fattah علاء عبدالفتاح |
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|---|---|
| Born | علاء أحمد سيف عبد الفتاح 18 November 1981 [1] Cairo, Egypt |
| Residence | Cairo |
| Nationality | Egyptian |
| Ethnicity | Egyptian |
| Religion | Muslim |
| Spouse | Manal |
| Children | Khaled |
| Parents | Ahmad Seif and Laila Suief |
| Relatives | Mona Seif (sister) |
| Website | |
| manalaa.net | |
Alaa Abd El-Fattah (Arabic: علاء أحمد سيف عبد الفتاح, IPA: [ʕæˈlæːʔ ˈæħmæd ˈseːf ʕæbdelfatˈtæːħ]; also presented in English as Alaa Abdel Fattah) is an Egyptian blogger, software developer, and political activist. He is known for co-founding along with his wife Manal Hassan, daughter of activist Bahi El-Din Hassan[2], the Egyptian blog aggregator "Manalaa" and "Omraneya", the first Arab blog aggregators that did not restrict inclusion based on the content of the blog.[3][4] In 2005 the "Manalaa" blog won the Special Reporters Without Borders Award in Deutsche Welle's Best of Blogs competition.[5] He has been active in developing Arabic-language versions of important software and platforms.[6]
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El-Fattah grew up in a family of activists and activism was a constant topic of discussion in his childhood. His father, Ahmed Seif El-Islam Hamad, a human rights attorney who had been arrested in 1983 by State Security Investigations Service officers and tortured and imprisoned for five years, is one of the founders of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center.[7] His mother Laila Soueif, sister of Ahdaf Soueif,[8] is a professor of mathematics at Cairo University and a political activist. His parents' activism dates to the days of Anwar Sadat.[9] During a demonstration in 2005 his mother, along with other women, were attacked by Mubarak supporters; El-Fattah was said to have protected her.[10]
On 7 May 2006, El-Fattah was arrested during a peaceful protest after he called for an independent judiciary. His arrest, along with that of several other bloggers and activists, spurred solidarity protests by others around the world,[11][12] some of whom created the blog "Free Alaa" devoted to calling for his release from jail.[13][14] El-Fattah was released on 20 June 2006, after spending 45 days in jail. His wife Manal was quoted by the The Independent as saying: "There's no going back now, we'll definitely be continuing our activities."[15]
According to Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram Weekly, El-Fattah's name "is in many ways synonymous with Egypt's 25 January Revolution." El-Fattah took part in nearly every demonstration since the revolution began.[16] He was not in Egypt on 25 January 2011, when the anti-regime protests began and when the Egyptian government shut down the internet in the country. However, he was able to collect information from family and friends by land-line phones and published to the outside world the events occurring in Egypt during the first days of the revolution. A few days later he returned to Egypt and was in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests, on 2 February. While demonstrating there, he participated in defending the square from attacks by security forces and pro-regime assailants, an event known in Egypt as "camel battle."[17]
El-Fattah continued his participation in the Egyptian revolution, until Mubarak stepped down from presidency. He thereafter settled in Egypt, where he maintained his participation in the demonstrations against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' (SCAF) way of running the country after Mubarak's fall.[15]
On October 30, El-Fattah was arrested on charges of inciting violence against the military during the October 9 Maspero demonstrations, during which hundreds of people were injured and 27 died in the worst violence since Mubarak left office. El-Fattah refused to recognise the legitimacy of his interrogators or answer their questions and was then to be held for 15 days, a period that could be indefinitely renewed by authorities.[18] He was accused of having incited fighting in Maspero, of assaulting soldiers and damaging military property.[19] As in his 2006 imprisonment, his mother has spoken out in his support, and initiated a hunger strike in opposition to the court-martialling of civilians on November 6.[20] His father and sisters also participated in the 2011 protests.[9] His sister Mona Seif is a founding member of the 'No Military Trials for Civilians', a group raising awareness for the civilian detainees summoned by military prosecutors and investigating torture allegations involving military police.[21] At his first hearing, Abd El Fattah's father, Ahmed Seif Al Islam - a human rights attorney - presented the military court with video tapes, one of which contained footage of Armored Personnel Carriers running over protesters and another of state television anchors "inciting violence." He also accused the head of military police of being directly responsible for the violence and accused the Supreme Council of Armed Forces of obstruction of justice for instituting a curfew the night of the attack in order to "hide all the evidence of the army's crimes."[22]
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) has called for the release of El-Fattah and all others imprisoned for exercising free speech,[23] while Amnesty International issued a condemnation of his imprisonment and accusing SCAF of involvement in the Maspero clashes.[24] As a reaction to his imprisonment, thousands of protesters took part in demonstrations in Cairo and Alexandria demanding his El-Fattah's release. Human rights activists and bloggers outside of Egypt have also called for his release.[16] While incarcerated in the Bab al-Khalq Prison, he wrote a letter to fellow Egyptian activists, claiming that SCAF had "hijacked" the revolution. He also compared his current imprisonment with the jail time he served in 2006, saying "I never expected to repeat the experience of five years ago. After a revolution that deposed the tyrant, I go back to his jails?"[24]
Following protests against El-Fattah's incarceration, military authorities allowed his case to be handles by a civil court instead of military tribunal. On December 13, the court dropped two charges against him, including incitement and illegal assembly. The court extended his detention for another 15 days and maintained the charges of stealing weapons and shooting at soldiers. While El-Fattah remained in custody, his son Khaled was born, named after Khaled Said, the slain blogger who had become a symbol of the Egyptian revolution.[25]
On Sunday 25 December 2011, a judge representing the public prosecutor’s office ordered the release of Alaa Abd El Fattah. It was announced that Abd El Fattah will be released to his residence on Monday 26 December and will be prohibited from traveling.[26][27]
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