Tag: #FreeAlaa

Only six months after his release from prison, Alaa Abdel Fattah, a symbol and a key leader of the 2011 Egyptian uprising, was arrested again.

In a letter to RightsCon, Alaa Abd El-Fattah says we shouldn’t give up fighting for an internet of diversity and complexity.

It is with a heavy heart that Access reports that Egyptian longtime human rights activist Alaa Abd El Fattah has been jailed and sentenced to 15 years in prison today, along with 24 other activists.

Today, Access kicked off the third installation of our RightsCon conference series in San Francisco, with more than 600 people from 375 organizations and comapnies in attendance, representing 50 countries. One person who was not here is Alaa Abd El Fattah, of Egypt.

Alaa joined us at the first RightsCon, in 2011, as a keynote speaker on the relationship – often complex – among technology, activism, and true social justice. When he left RightsCon, he flew straight back to Egypt, to serve an unjust, politically motivated prison sentence.

Today, he is in prison again — again, without justice or cause. His family shared the following statement with us to share today.

The military “interim government” in Egypt is cracking down on any meaningful form of assembly, association, or opposition. Following the passage of a November 2013 law banning peaceful protest, dozens of activists and organizers have been sent to prison. Among them is Alaa Abd El Fattah, software guru, blogger and political activist. We join dozens of other civil society organizations in calling for the release of Alaa and all those unjustly detained in Egypt.