UK – Middle East Eye, September 24, 2024
Egyptian–British writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah may be detained beyond his five-year sentence, which is due to end on 29 September, his lawyer warned.
The writer and political activist was initially held on 28 September 2019 after sharing a social media post raising awareness about a fellow prisoner who allegedly died as a result of torture.
After Abd el-Fattah’s arrest, he was referred to the Supreme State Security Prosecution, which charged him in a case numbered 1356, with joining a terrorist group, spreading false news, and misusing social media.
The writer was subsequently held in pretrial detention for two years.
Abd el-Fattah was referred to a new trial on 10 October 2021 before the Emergency State Security Court, which sentenced him two months later to five years in prison. The sentence was ratified by the military governor on 3 January 2022.
According to his lawyer Khaled Ali, Abd el-Fattah would have completed five years in prison on 29 September 2024, but authorities intend to keep him in prison until 3 January 2027.
Ali clarified that the former date marks five years since his initial arrest in 2019 and includes pre-trial detention, whereas the latter date is five years from the ratification of his sentence.
“This effectively nullifies the time he served from September 2019 to January 2022, with the claim that this period was part of his pretrial detention in Case No. 1356 of 2019, which has not yet been concluded,” Ali said in a statement.
