Dr. Laila Soueif, mother of Alaa Abdel Fattah, wrote: “Every now and then I catch myself making little plans for what I’ll do when Alaa gets out of prison. Of course, all the plans are for the smallest things—like when he’s released, I’ll go to Egypt and visit my dentist to fix my dentures.”
Expectations have risen, and hope has returned for the family of Egyptian activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, after the First Circuit of the Cairo Criminal Court in Badr decided to remove his name from the “terrorist entities” list. The court based its decision on intelligence findings that Abdel Fattah had not continued any activity in support of a “terrorist organization.”
This ruling effectively lifted several legal restrictions that came with his listing, such as a travel ban, asset freeze, and bans on candidacy or employment in public office, but it does not necessarily mean his immediate release.
The decision rekindled hope and was seen as a positive step toward his release, and potentially toward the removal of others whose names were added to the terrorism list merely for peaceful expression or digital political speech on social media. But before hope takes hold, the absurdity of the situation must be acknowledged, something Dr. Soueif points out plainly: “Anyone who knows me knows I’ve never believed in any promises of release or pardon or anything similar unless it actually happens.”
The Farce of “Terrorism” Charges
Alaa Abdel Fattah’s name was added to Egypt’s terrorism list on November 19, 2020, by decision of the Cairo Criminal Court as part of Case No. 1781 of 2019. The ruling was officially published in the Official Gazette on November 23, 2020, and upheld by the Court of Cassation on November 18, 2021, during the exact period when Abdel Fattah was already imprisoned, over a case related to a social media post he had reshared to advocate for another detainee’s rights.
The intelligence that once justified placing him on the “terrorist list” now claims that he hasn’t been involved in any political or “terrorist” activity recently, with “recently” referring to the time he has spent in prison.
This is one of the most blatant legal paradoxes that illustrates the abuse of terrorism laws against political activists in Egypt: that Abdel Fattah could be placed on a terrorist list while behind bars, stripped of his freedom, and denied even his most basic rights to expression or movement. And more absurdly, that his name could later be removed from the list on the grounds that he had not continued engaging in prohibited activity, while imprisoned! How can a detainee be judged for activity (or the absence of it) when they’ve been in custody for years?
This reversed logic of “tightening and loosening” legal screws at will exposes not only the judicial contradictions at play, but also the reality that terrorism lists are being used as political weapons against peaceful dissidents who demand freedom and democracy and are punished simply for their peaceful political views.
Among the best-known cases in Egypt’s human rights circles is that of Mohamed El-Baqer, a human rights lawyer who was sentenced to four years in prison for ‘spreading false news’, and was also placed on the terrorism list, despite the fact that his work never involved violence. He was granted a presidential pardon in July 2023. Another case is Mohamed Radwan, known as Mohamed Oxygen, who was sentenced under the same charges and remains in prison despite ongoing international calls for his release.
“Terrorism” and the Stripping of Rights
The vague and broad use of anti-terrorism laws has led to serious consequences, including arrest warrants and immediate travel bans for those inside Egypt. If the individuals are abroad, they are placed on “watch lists” to be arrested upon entry into Egypt by any means. Their passports are also revoked if they approach any Egyptian embassy or consulate abroad, and they are not allowed to renew them.
The penalties also include freezing assets and funds, and stripping individuals of their political rights, all without a transparent mechanism for effective appeal or an objective review of these decisions. And before all else, this process serves to stigmatize and publicly label anyone engaged in peaceful political activity in Egypt.
Even the Egyptian public now finds it hard to comprehend. The same public that had been trained and convinced that Alaa Abdel Fattah and others like him were “terrorists” is now puzzled. After years of conditioning the collective mind to believe that the icons of the January revolution were “wreckers of the country,” they now wonder how these individuals are being absolved, and why the script is suddenly being rewritten.
As of August 12, 2024, the number of people listed on Egypt’s “terrorist entities” and “terrorists” list had reached 4,408 individuals. These include people residing both inside and outside Egypt, among them human rights defenders and political dissidents.
The duration of inclusion on these terrorist lists is five years. After that, the criminal court reviews the list and decides whether to extend or lift the designation, based on investigations submitted by the public prosecutor.
Since September 2019, after Abdel Fattah’s release from a previous five-year sentence, he was only free for six months before being arrested again while completing his daily police probation at the Dokki police station. At that time, he was forcibly disappeared for several days before appearing before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, which ordered his pretrial detention in case No. 1356 of 2019, on charges of joining a terrorist group and spreading false news. These are the same charges that were widely used against dozens of activists, journalists, and lawyers during that period — a clear sign that these were political rather than legal actions.
During those days, Alaa’s mother, Dr. Laila Soueif, was the first to raise the alarm. As an academic and seasoned activist, she did not stop going daily to the public prosecutor’s office, prisons, and hospitals, searching for any confirmation that her son was still alive and well. The first nights of his disappearance passed without a single confirmed piece of information — until Alaa reappeared at the prosecution office, visibly showing signs of torture. The shock was immense. He told his lawyer that he had been beaten and humiliated during detention, deprived of sleep, food, and medicine. Yet none of these violations were investigated, and no responsible authority has been held accountable to date.
The Battle Against “Sisi’s Prisons”
Throughout 2020, Alaa Abdel Fattah’s family endured immense psychological hardship. Every visit was a battle. Every letter had to be carefully reviewed and its words scrutinized. His sister, Mona Seif, a geneticist and political activist, shared details of what was happening inside the prisons through social media. She launched continuous campaigns to pressure the international community into action. His younger sister, Sanaa Seif, chose direct confrontation with the authorities through sit-ins and hunger strikes. As a result, she too ended up behind bars after being accused of “spreading false news” in June 2020, following her attempt to submit a petition to the public prosecutor demanding information about her brother.
In December 2021, Abdel Fattah was sentenced to five years in prison for “spreading false news that threatens national security.” The trial was described by human rights organizations as “farce-like”: lawyers were denied access to the case file and not allowed to plead effectively. The case was based on a single Facebook post, with no evidence provided of any alleged national security threat. The family was stunned by the ruling, though not surprised, as all indicators pointed toward escalation.
In 2022, Alaa began an open-ended hunger strike that lasted over 200 days, protesting his detention conditions, denial of visits, and deprivation of his right to communicate with his family. During that time, his family lived in daily terror. No clear updates reached them, and they relied on limited, delayed messages from prison authorities.
In November 2022, as the COP27 climate conference in Sharm El Sheikh approached, international pressure mounted to release him. British MPs and Western media raised their voices, especially since Alaa holds British citizenship, but the Egyptian state remained unmoved.
Under these mounting pressures, Dr. Soueif began a hunger strike in September 2024, the most grueling of her life. It lasted ten full months, during which she nearly lost her life, demanding her son’s release after completing his sentence.
This prolonged strike became a symbol of a family’s endurance, a family left with nothing but hope, clinging to the doors of politics and justice, waiting for a moment that may never come.
Article 482 of the Egyptian Criminal Procedure Code stipulates that the duration of a prison sentence begins from the day of arrest under a final enforceable judgment, with deductions made for the duration of pretrial detention and the arrest period.
Since 2019, the entire family has been engaged in a constant battle with a bureaucratic system that resists transparency and punishes even with silence. Dozens of statements, hundreds of visits to prosecutors, protests, hunger strikes, articles, press conferences, appeals to the UN, and petitions to the British Parliament — all aimed at securing Abdel Fattah’s release after completing his prison term — to no avail.
Laila Soueif and the Battle Over Calories
The decision to remove Alaa Abdel Fattah’s name from the terrorism list came just a week after his mother, Dr. Laila Soueif, announced the end of her hunger strike, responding to calls urging her to preserve her life.
Removing Abdel Fattah’s name from the terrorism list is a fundamental right and a correction of an unlawful situation from the start. It may offer a chance to facilitate his release and his departure from the country, but it does not absolve the need to question the fate of others still trapped on this punitive list, a list that now resembles an added snare within the prison trap.
Delisting Abdel Fattah is an important step, but it does not end the legal or humanitarian ordeal he faces. And the matter does not concern his name alone; it extends to the thousands of detainees imprisoned for peaceful political reasons, who are demanding a comprehensive review that restores their basic rights to a fair trial, to freedom, and to effective legal mechanisms within the Egyptian judiciary not only to remove their names from such lists, but to actually secure their release.
