Abd El-Fattah has been questioned, arrested, and detained on several occasions. He was arrested on 7 May 2006 when demonstrating for an
independent judiciary, and was released on 20 June 2006. On 30 October 2011, he was arrested for
inciting violence against the
Egyptian National Police at the
Maspero, and was released on 25 December 2011. On 26 March 2013, he was arrested for inciting aggression during a protest outside the
Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters, known as the Mokattam Clashes of March 2013 but was later acquitted on all charges. 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, and received a suspended one-year jail term. 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. 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. He was rearrested on 15 September 2014, and released on bail. In October 2021, a collection of his writings – some smuggled out from his prison cell – translated into English by anonymous supporters, was published by
Fitzcarraldo Editions under the title
You Have Not Yet Been Defeated, with a foreword by
Naomi Klein. Drawing on a decade of Abd El-Fattah's essays, newspaper columns, letters, article-length
Facebook posts and
tweets, the book "offers a kaleidoscopic view of his thoughts and interests ... all part of his effort to envision what a sustainable and equitable society, built on the strong foundations of a shared democratic culture, might look like." Among positive reviews, that in
Jacobin magazine noted: "These essays are necessary reading for anyone who wishes to understand the last decade of Egyptian politics."
The Nation commented: "Alaa's writings suggest that some of the most radical ideas of our times are produced outside universities and that some of the most significant thinkers of our age are not academics." In July 2022, an Arabic translation of Abd El-Fattah's book was published by Jusur, a Lebanese publishing house based in
Beirut, under the title ''Shabah' Al-Rabea'.'' During his two-month detention in 2011, his son Khaled was born, and during his three-month detention in 2014, his father
Ahmed Seif El-Islam Hamad died.
2006 arrest On 7 May 2006, Abd 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. Abd El-Fattah was released on 20 June 2006, after spending 45 days in prison. His wife Manal was quoted by the London
Independent newspaper as saying: "There's no going back now, we'll definitely be continuing our activities."
2011 Egyptian revolution and arrest , 2011 According to Egyptian newspaper
al-Ahram Weekly, Abd el-Fattah's name "is in many ways synonymous with Egypt's 25 January Revolution". Abd El-Fattah participated in nearly every demonstration after the revolution began. 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 the "camel battle". Abd El-Fattah continued his participation in the Egyptian revolution, until Mubarak stepped down from the presidency. Abd El-Fattah 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. He was accused of having incited fighting in Maspero, of assaulting soldiers and damaging military property. 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. His father and sisters also participated in the 2011 protests. The spokesman for the
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called for the release of Abd El-Fattah and all others imprisoned for exercising free speech, while
Amnesty International issued a condemnation of his imprisonment and accusing SCAF of involvement in the Maspero clashes. In reaction to his imprisonment, thousands of protesters took part in demonstrations in Cairo and
Alexandria, demanding Abd El-Fattah's release. Human rights activists and bloggers outside of Egypt have also called for his release. On 25 December 2011, a judge representing the public prosecutor's office ordered the release of Abd El-Fattah to take place the following day. He remained under a travel ban.
2013 arrest In November 2013, Abd El-Fattah was arrested again for allegedly encouraging a demonstration against the new constitution outside the
Egyptian Parliament, violating the new protest law. Around 20 policemen raided Abd El-Fattah's home, broke the door down, and proceeded to confiscate the family's computers and mobile phones. When Abd El-Fattah asked to see the arrest warrant, the police physically assaulted him and his wife. In June 2014, Abd El-Fattah, along with 24 others, was sentenced
in absentia to 15 years imprisonment, on counts of violating the new Protest Law. In October 2014, the
Cairo Criminal Court sentenced his sister
Sanaa Seif and 22 others to three years in prison on similar charges. In early September 2014, his mother
Laila Soueif and sister
Mona Seif embarked on a
hunger strike in protest against the imprisonment of the siblings. On 19 November, Soueif and Mona Seif ended their 76-day hunger strike. On 23 February 2015, Abd El-Fattah was sentenced to five years in prison. He was released on 29 March 2019, but remained subject to a five-year
parole period, requiring him to stay at a police station for 12 hours daily, from evening until morning.
2019 arrest On 29 September 2019, during the
2019 Egyptian protests, Abd El-Fattah was arrested by the
National Security Agency and taken to State Security Prosecution on charges that were unknown. Abd El-Fattah's family released a statement to announce that he was kidnapped after leaving the
Dokki police station. Since his release in March 2019, Abd El-Fattah had been required to follow daily police probation of 12 hours per day in the Dokki police station for five years.
2021 sentencing and urgent appeal to UN Working Group Abd El-Fattah was convicted and sentenced to five years of imprisonment for spreading "false news undermining national security" in December 2021, while lawyers
Mohamed El-Baqer and blogger Mohamed "Oxygen" Ibrahim were sentenced to four years each, according to Abdel Fattah's sister
Mona Seif. During his detention, at
Tora Prison, Abd El-Fattah became a
British citizen, through his British-born mother. As of 2 May 2022, his hunger strike continued, he had received no medical attention despite losing weight and becoming "very weak", and had said his farewells to his family. On 18 May 2022, 10
MPs and 17 members of the
House of Lords urged the
UK government to take action to help Alaa Abd El-Fattah. In a letter to foreign secretary
Liz Truss, they stated that Abd El-Fattah was being held in "inhumane" conditions. It also mentioned that the
British Embassy in Egypt had been requesting consular access to Abd El-Fattah, but this was denied by the Egyptian authorities. Lord
Simon McDonald, former
Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Head of the Diplomatic Service, said that because of
the international law on multiple citizenship Egypt does not have to recognise Abd El-Fattah's British citizenship while he is in Egypt, where he holds citizenship. On 14 June 2022, at least 25 celebrities and political thinkers from across the world urged the British foreign secretary
Liz Truss to help secure the release of Abd el-Fattah.
Mark Ruffalo,
Judi Dench,
Stephen Fry, and
Carey Mulligan were among the celebrities who penned the letter calling on the United Kingdom to condemn his prolonged detention in Egypt. His family feared that he might die after weeks on just water and
Rehydration salts. His sister,
Sanaa Seif, also urged Truss to publicly demand that the activist be released, as he was convinced that he would not leave the Egyptian prison alive. On 6 November 2022, as Egypt hosted world leaders for the
COP27 summit, Abdel Fattah stopped drinking water, after more than six months of a hunger strike. His sister Sanaa Seif raised concerns that he might die within days, and hoped that PM
Rishi Sunak would secure Abdel Fattah's release during his visit to Egypt for
COP27. Seif also spoke about her fears that the Egyptian authorities might be torturing Abdel Fattah and
force-feeding him behind the closed doors. She asked for a proof of life of her brother. The UN human rights chief
Volker Türk also called on Egypt to immediately release Abdel Fattah. On 10 November, prison officials told Abdel Fattah's family that he had received "medical intervention with the knowledge of a judicial authority", indicative of either force-feeding or
intravenous rehydration. On 15 November, his family received a letter from him saying he had ended his hunger strike and he would explain why at their next visit. On 23 November 2022, 67 French parliamentarians called on European authorities and governments, to intervene for Abd El-Fattah's immediate release, and to transport him on a European plane to a country of his choice, due to the deterioration of his health in Egyptian prison and the possibility of his re-arrest. Abd El-Fattah's sister, Sana Seif, approached Europe and the United Nations to push for the release of her brother. She also called for the
UNHRC to investigate into the imprisonment of her brother and other political prisoners in Egypt. Seif re-started the #FreeAlaa campaign, saying that international pressure was required. On 16 March 2023, the Geneva Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Germany had exchanged its views on these initiatives with Seif in
Geneva. On 14 November 2023, Abd El-Fattah's family instructed an international counsel team led by
Can Yeğinsu to file an urgent appeal with the UN
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
2024 extension of sentence Based on the sentencing, Abd El-Fattah was supposed to be released on 29 September 2024, but the Egyptian authorities decided not to include his
pre-trial detention, pushing the release date to 2027. On 30 September 2024, his mother
Laila Soueif began a daily hunger strike outside the UK government's
Foreign Office in
Westminster, chalking on the pavement the number of days of her son's illegal imprisonment. Surviving on water, rehydration salts, and sugarless tea and coffee, she spent an hour each day outside
10 Downing Street. She was joined in mid-January 2025 by Australian journalist
Peter Greste, who had been imprisoned in Egypt with Abd El-Fattah in 2013, for a 21-day hunger strike. and a member of her family was reported as saying: "It seems extraordinary that the whole of the British government machine is unable to secure a call [with the Egyptian president]. Laila has always said her fast is about securing some sign of progress in the release of her son, but so far she has nothing and feels she cannot stop her hunger strike." In March 2025, Alaa Abd El-Fattah began a second phase of his hunger strike, after learning that his mother had been hospitalized in London.
2025 UN Working Group decision and release On 13 June 2025, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention handed down its opinion, finding Abd El-Fattah's detention to arbitrary in violation of Articles 2, 3, 7, 10, 11 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Articles 2, 9, 10, 14, 19 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. On 9 September 2025, president
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi ordered a review of the National Council for Human Rights' petition for pardon, with Abd El-Fattah included in the list of seven proposed to be reviewed. The president formally pardoned Abd El-Fattah on 22 September, and it was reported on 23 September that Abd El-Fattah had been released from
Wadi el-Natrun Prison and was at his home in Cairo.
2025 move to the United Kingdom and social media controversy In November 2025, Abd El-Fattah attempted to fly to London with his sister Sanaa but was told by officials at Cairo International Airport that he was not allowed to travel. The following month, the travel ban was lifted. On 26 December, it was announced that Abd El-Fattah had arrived in the UK and had been reunited with his family. Following Abd El-Fattah's arrival to the United Kingdom in December 2025, controversy emerged over his earlier posts on
X (formerly Twitter). El-Fattah wrote "I'm telling you that I hate white people" and referred to British people as "dogs and monkeys". On 10 September 2010, he posted that "
there was no genocide against Jews by the Nazis – after all, many Jews are left". On 3 November 2010, he referred to himself as "a violent person who advocated the killing of all Zionists including civilians". On 8 August 2011, during
riots in England, he wrote "Now my real criticism of these post-police murder riots is the wrong focus, go burn the City or
Downing Street, or hunt police fools". After these posts emerged, the
Shadow Justice Secretary,
Robert Jenrick wrote to the Prime Minister criticising the government's public welcome of Abd El-Fattah's return to the United Kingdom. Jenrick called on the Prime Minister to condemn the statements and clarify that the government did not legitimise calls for violence. A Foreign Office spokesperson in the UK said that "The government condemns Mr el-Fattah's historic[al] tweets and considers them to be abhorrent". The
Conservative Party while in government had also acted on behalf of Abd El-Fattah, including his granting of citizenship in 2021, and MPs
Iain Duncan Smith and
Alicia Kearns said that they regretted that support. Conservative leader
Kemi Badenoch and
Nigel Farage of
Reform UK also called for his deportation. He said that tweets allegedly showing homophobia and Holocaust denial were satires of such attitudes, and that he had fought for Egypt's LGBT and religious minority communities. == Recognition and awards ==