Alaa Abd El-Fattah

Alaa Abd El-Fattah
علاء عبدالفتاح
Born علاء أحمد سيف عبد الفتاح
(1981-11-18) 18 November 1981[1]
Cairo, Egypt
Residence Cairo
Nationality Egyptian
Ethnicity Egyptian
Spouse(s) Manal
Children Khaled
Parent(s) Ahmed Seif and Laila Suief
Relatives Mona Seif Sanaa Seif(sisters)
Website manalaa.net

Alaa Abd El-Fattah (Arabic: علاء أحمد سيف عبد الفتاح‎, IPA: [ʕæˈlæːʔ ˈæħmæd ˈseːf ʕæbdelfatˈtæːħ]; born 18 November 1981), also presented in English as Alaa Abdel Fattah, is an Egyptian blogger, software developer and a political activist. He has been active in developing Arabic-language versions of important software and platforms.[2] He was imprisoned in Egypt for allegedly organising a political protest without requesting authorization, though he was released on bail on 23 March 2014.[3] He was rearrested and ordered released on bail again on 15 September 2014,[4] subsequently sentenced to a month of jail in absentia,[5] and finally received a five years sentence in February 2015, which he is now serving.[6]

Background

Alaa 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, the sister of the novelist and political commentator Ahdaf Soueif,[8] is a professor of mathematics at Cairo University and a political activist.[9] His parents' activism dates to the days of Anwar Sadat.[10] During a demonstration in 2005 his mother, along with other women, were attacked by Mubarak supporters; Alaa was said to have protected her.[11] One of his sisters is Mona Seif, 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.[12] His other sister Sanaa Seif is a teenage student that co-founded a newspaper about the Arab spring called 'Gornal'.[13]

Political activism and arrests

Alaa Abdel Fattah is known for co-founding along with his wife Manal Hassan, daughter of activist Bahi El-Din Hassan,[14] the Egyptian blog aggregator Manalaa and Omraneya, the first Arab blog aggregators that did not restrict inclusion based on the content of the blog.[15][16] In 2005 the Manalaa blog won the Special Reporters Without Borders Award in Deutsche Welle's Best of Blogs competition.[17] He has supported initiatives that promote citizen journalism on social media and has more than 600,000 people following his personal Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Alaa Abdel Fattah has been questioned, arrested and detained on several occasions. He was arrested on 7 May 2006 when demonstrating for independent judiciary and released on 20 June 2006. On 30 October 2011 he was arrested for inciting violence at the 9 October Maspero clashes and released on 25 December 2011.[18] On 26 March 2013 he was arrested for inciting aggression during a protest outside Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters, known as the Mokattam Clashes of March 2013[19] but was later acquitted on all charges.[20] Two days later, on 28 March 2013 he was arrested and charged for torching former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafik’s campaign headquarters on 28 May 2012,[21] and received a suspended 1-year jail term.[22] On 28 November 2013 he was arrested for rallying, inciting violence, resisting authorities and violating the Anti-protest Law after a demonstration against military trials for civilians outside Shura Council building on 26 November 2013.[23] He was initially released on 23 March 2014 after 115 days in detention. In June 2014 he was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison and detained again awaiting his retrial, during which time he went on a hunger strike.[24] In his retrial on 15 September 2014 he was released on bail.[25]

During his two-month detention in 2011 his son Khaled was born[26] and during his three-month detention in 2014 his father Ahmed Seif El-Islam Hamad died.[27]

May 2006 arrest and reaction

A picture of Alaa that was used by activists demanding his release

On 7 May 2006, Alaa 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,[28][29] some of whom created the blog "Free Alaa" devoted to calling for his release from jail.[30][31] Alaa 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."[32]

2011 revolution

Abd el-Fattah in Tahrir Square.

According to Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram Weekly, Abd el-Fattah's name "is in many ways synonymous with Egypt's 25 January Revolution." Alaa took part in nearly every demonstration since the revolution began.[33] 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."[34]

Alaa 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.[32]

October 2011 arrest

On 30 October, Alaa 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. Alaa refused to recognise the legitimacy of his interrogators or answer their questions and was then to be held for 15 days, a period that indefinitely renewable.[35] He was accused of having incited fighting in Maspero, of assaulting soldiers and damaging military property.[36] As in his 2006 imprisonment, his mother spoke out in his support, and initiated a hunger strike in opposition to the court-martialling of civilians on 6 November.[37] His father and sisters also participated in the 2011 protests.[10] At his first hearing, Alaa's father, the human rights attorney Ahmed Seif El-Islam 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."[38]

The spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called for the release of Alaa and all others imprisoned for exercising free speech,[39] while Amnesty International issued a condemnation of his imprisonment and accusing SCAF of involvement in the Maspero clashes.[40] In reaction to his imprisonment, thousands of protesters took part in demonstrations in Cairo and Alexandria demanding Alaa's release. Human rights activists and bloggers outside of Egypt have also called for his release.[33] 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?"[40]

Following protests against Alaa's incarceration, military authorities allowed his case to be handled by a civilian court instead of military tribunal. On 13 December, 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 Alaa remained in custody, his son Khaled was born, named after Khaled Said, the slain blogger who had become a symbol of the Egyptian revolution.[41]

On Sunday 25 December 2011, a judge representing the public prosecutor’s office ordered the release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah to take place the following day. He remained under a travel ban.[42][43]

November 2013 arrest

In November 2013, Alaa was arrested again for allegedly encouraging a demonstration against the new constitution outside the Egyptian Parliament.[44] 20 policemen raided Abd El-Fattah's home, broke the door down, and proceeded to confiscate the family's computers and mobile phones. When Alaa asked to see the arrest warrant, the police physically assaulted him and his wife.[45]

February 2015 sentencing

On 23 February 2015, Alaa was sentenced to five years in prison.[46]

See also

References

  1. ↑ @EgyptianLiberal, Twitter post, "21 Jun via Choqok". The date used here as birth date is presented without explanation -- just the date -- at the post.
  2. ↑ Worldchanging essay "Arabization – It's Harder than just Right to Left" December 2004
  3. ↑ "Activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah released on bail". Ahram Online. 23 March 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  4. ↑ "UPDATED: Egypt court orders release of Alaa Abdel-Fattah, Noubi, Metwali on bail". Ahram Online. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  5. ↑ "Alaa Abd El Fattah sentenced to month in prison". Mada Masr. 2 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "Alaa Abdel Fattah: Egypt jails activist-blogger for five years". BBC News. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
  7. ↑ "Human rights defender in egypt: Ahmed Seif El-Islam" Amnesty International. 9 December 2008
  8. ↑ Soueif, Ahdaf (13 November 2011). "In Egypt, the stakes have risen". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
  9. ↑ Alexandra, Nick. "An Egyptian revolutionary: A woman who relentlessly campaigned for justice for over 30 years is one of the true heroines of the revolution". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  10. 1 2 Murphy, Kim, "A family nurtured in rebellion", Los Angeles Times, 13 February 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
  11. ↑ Bronstein, Scott (16 June 2011). "For Egyptian online warrior, father's torture fueled activism". CNN. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
  12. ↑ Soueif, Ahdaf (13 November 2011). "In Egypt, the stakes have risen". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
  13. ↑ "The Family That Revolts Together". Bidoun. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  14. ↑ "Alaa Abdel Fattah: Portrait of a revolutionary". Ahram online. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
  15. ↑ "Manalaa.net". Manalaa.net. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  16. ↑ "Core to Commonplace: The Evolution of Egypt’s Blogosphere". Arab Media and Society. 2008.
  17. ↑ "Egyptian Couple Awarded For Best Free Expression Blog". IFEX. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  18. ↑ Sara Hashash "Egypt to free jailed blogger" The Sunday Times. 25 December 2011.
  19. ↑ Luiz Sanchez "Lawyers to defend case of summoned activists" Daily News Egypt. 28 March 2013.
  20. ↑ "12 activists acquitted over Brotherhood HQ attack" Ahram Online. 7 July 2013.
  21. ↑ Fady Ashraf "Shafiq’s HQ fire trial postponed" Daily News Egypt. 3 September 2013.
  22. ↑ El-Sayed Gamal El-Din "Activists Alaa Abdel-Fattah, Mona Seif receive suspended jail sentence" Ahram Online. 5 January 2014.
  23. ↑ Aaron T. Rose "Alaa Abdel Fattah arrest prompts outcry from human rights groups" Daily News Egypt. 30 November 2013.
  24. ↑ "Jailed Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah goes on hunger strike" Ahram Online. 19 August 2014
  25. ↑ "Abdel Fattah released on bail, judge excuses himself from the case" Daily News Egypt. 15 September 2014.
  26. ↑ "Detained blogger Abd El Fattah misses birth of his first child" Egypt Independent. 6 December 2011.
  27. ↑ Robert Mackey "Ahmed Seif al-Islam Hamad, Pioneering Rights Lawyer, Mourned by Egyptian Activists" The New York Times. 28 August 2014.
  28. ↑ McCarthy, Rory (8 May 2006). "Cairo clamps down on dissent | World news | guardian.co.uk". The Guardian (UK). Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  29. ↑ blogpost, Ethan Zuckerman's blog, 05/08/2006 9:24 am.
  30. ↑ "Freealaa blog". Freealaa.blogspot.com. 10 May 2006. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  31. ↑ Haitham Sabbah (10 May 2006). "Google-bombing for Alaa: Press Release | Sabbah Report". Sabbah.biz. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  32. 1 2 Black, Jeff (21 June 2006). "Egypt releases blogger jailed for 45 days after 'insulting' President – Middle East, World". The Independent (UK). Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  33. 1 2 Dawoud, Khaled. The Face of Protest. Al-Ahram Weekly. 2011-11-17.
  34. ↑ "Trial begins over Egypt's 'camel battle'". Al Jazeera. 11 September 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  35. ↑ Shenker, Jack (31 October 2011). "Egyptian revolutionary Alaa Abd El Fattah arrested by junta". Guardian (London). Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  36. ↑ Associated Press in Cairo (2 November 2011). "Jailed Egyptian activist's mother on hunger strike". Guardian (London). Retrieved 12 December 2011.
  37. ↑ Fleishman, Jeffrey, "Egyptian mother on hunger strike to free blogger son from prison", Los Angeles Times, 9 November 2011 7:35 am. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
  38. ↑ "Egypt: Activist Detained for Inciting Violence | Pulitzer Center". pulitzercenter.org. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  39. ↑ "Alaa Abdel-Fattah, Jailed Egypt Blogger, Should Be Released, UN Says". AP. 1 January 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  40. 1 2 Shenker, Jack. Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El Fattah accuses army of hijacking revolution. The Guardian. 2011-11-02.
  41. ↑ Mackey, Robert. Egypt Drops Some Charges Against Blogger. New York Times. 2011-12-13.
  42. ↑ "Judge releases arrested blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah". www.almasryalyoum.com. 25 December 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  43. ↑ "Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah to be released from prison: report". Al Arabiya. 25 December 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  44. ↑ Kingsley, Patrick (29 November 2013). "Egyptian activist arrested amid government crackdown on dissent". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  45. ↑ "Update: Alaa Abd El Fattah arrested, being held at CSF barracks". Mada Masr. 29 November 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  46. ↑ "Court sentences prominent Egyptian activist to 5 years in prison after retrial". Fox News. Associated Press. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.

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