The hopes of Alaa Abd El-Fattah’s family for his release had been dashed by the authorities’ refusal to release him by 29 September, after the expiry of his legal sentence of five years in Case<\/a> 1228 of 2021, having previously spent seven years in prison since 2013, when he was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison on charges related to protesting without a permit, and was released after the end of the sentence in 2019. However, the security authorities arrested him again a few months later and the Public Prosecution ordered him held in pretrial detention, then the Emergency State Security Misdemeanour Court sentenced<\/a> him in December 2021 to five years in prison on a charge of spreading false news. The family had hoped for his release at the end of his sentence, but with the pretrial detention period not being counted, he is forced to spend more than two additional years in prison, which means he will remain behind bars until January 2027.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In a warm atmosphere, Laila Soueif’s home witnessed broad solidarity with the hunger strike she is waging until her son is released, from family friends and a number of public figures, most notably: human rights lawyer and former presidential candidate Khaled Ali, labour leader and human rights lawyer Haitham Mohamedein, political activist and human rights lawyer Mahienour El-Masry, journalist Rasha Azab, political activist and journalist Esraa Abdel Fattah, human rights lawyer Azza Soliman, and human rights activist and founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights Hossam Bahgat, all demanding the release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah and all political prisoners who have served their sentences, such as political activist Mohamed Adel and blogger Mohamed Oxygen, and the release of all pretrial detainees who have spent two years or more in pretrial detention. Those present also listened to recorded testimonies from the wife of political activist Mohamed Adel and the mother of translator and child rights activist Marwa Arafa, about the violations both are subjected to in detention and the human suffering the two families are going through as a result of their continued imprisonment for years over their political views opposing the ruling political system in Egypt.<\/p>\n For her part, Laila Soueif<\/strong> revealed that she was able to visit her son in prison on his birthday, taking advantage of the Prison Authority opening visits on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and that she insisted on bringing him cake so he could celebrate with his cellmates, despite the conditions of his detention and the hunger strike she is waging. She explained that the last birthday he celebrated among his family was his 32nd, stressing that her strike will continue until Alaa is released or her health deteriorates and she loses her life, and that if she backs down she will live broken, watching her son being abused endlessly.<\/p>\n Alaa Abd El-Fattah’s mother stresses that her family’s suffering is part of the suffering of thousands of Egyptian families who have petitioned the President to spare them the human suffering they live through as a result of their relatives’ continued imprisonment, and an integral part of injustice in the world and of genocide and ethnic cleansing. She explained that she intends to travel to Britain to convey to the British government her protest at the continued imprisonment of her son, who holds British citizenship alongside his Egyptian citizenship, and at what she considers collusion in Alaa’s case between the governments of the two countries owing to their common interests and friendship.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/\u0646\u0633\u062e\u0629-\u0645\u0646-\u0646\u0633\u062e\u0629-\u0645\u0646-\u0627\u0644\u0639\u064a\u0627\u0637.png\")
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