Advocacy & Aid

 “We are thrilled to see Alaa reunited with his family and friends and look forward to seeing him together with his son in the UK. He is a remarkable writer and activist who should never have been imprisoned. While celebrating Alaa’s release, we remember all writers imprisoned for their expression. Egyptian authorities should end their ruthless repression of critical voices and release all those who remain detained for their expression,” said Burhan Sonmez, President of PEN International.

23 September 2025: PEN International welcomes the long-overdue release of British-Egyptian writer and activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah after almost six years in arbitrary imprisonment.  Egyptian authorities should also lift any restrictions that may hinder his travel to the UK to reunite with his son. 

PEN International reiterates its call on the Egyptian government to release all arbitrarily detained writers and to end its relentless crackdown on freedom of expression. The organisation remains particularly concerned about the ongoing arbitrary detention of Egyptian poet Galal El-Behairy and cartoonist and translator Ashraf Omar, and calls for their immediate and unconditional release. 

On 22 September 2025, British-Egyptian writer and prominent activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah was released from prison after being granted a presidential pardon by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, along with five others. Earlier in July, the First Terrorism Circuit of Cairo Criminal Court delisted Abd El-Fattah from Egypt’s terrorism watchlist, ending his five-year inclusion on the list, which came as a result of his 2021 conviction by the Emergency State Security Court.

Arrested in September 2019, Alaa Abd El-Fattah completed his unjust five-year sentence on 29 September 2024; however, Egyptian authorities continued to arbitrarily detain him beyond his prison term. Abd El-Fattah was sentenced to five years in prison in 2021 for sharing a Facebook post about torture in prisons after a grossly unfair trial before the Emergency State Security Court. Egyptian authorities also denied Abd El-Fattah access to a lawyer and British consular visits. His mother, academic and human rights activist Laila Soueif, started a prolonged hunger strike on 29 September 2024 to protest Abd El-Fattah’s arbitrary imprisonment. PEN International has repeatedly raised concerns over Abd El-Fattah’s deteriorating health due to arbitrary imprisonment and his prolonged hunger strike in 2022. While Abd El-Fattah’s long-overdue release ends a painful chapter in his family’s struggle for his freedom, it remains unclear whether he will be allowed to travel to the UK to reunite with his son, Khaled.

 As PEN International celebrates Abd El-Fattah’s release, it also highlights the dire human rights situation in Egypt, where authorities continue to systematically punish any public or perceived dissent and severely repress the rights to peaceful assembly, association and freedom of expression. Scores of journalists, human rights defenders, activists and writers have been arbitrarily detained for prolonged periods without trial and faced trumped-up charges solely because of their work or critical views. Writers, journalists, activists, and human rights defenders have been systematically targeted through a range of repressive tactics aimed at silencing them, including judicial harassment, smear campaigns, threats, physical assaults, unfair trials, and travel bans, creating a chilling effect on freedom of expression in the country. PEN International documented several cases of writers who remain imprisoned for their expression, including cartoonist and translator Ashraf Omar, and Egyptian poet Galal El-Behiry.

Arrested in March 2018, award-winning poet Galal El-Behairy remains detained without trial despite having served an unjust three-year sentence followed by further two years in arbitrary pre-trial detention on new bogus charges. El-Behairy was sentenced to three years in prison by a military court after an unfair trial concerning his poetry collection, خير نسوان الأرض (The Finest Women on Earth), which the court deemed insulting to the Egyptian military. In July 2021, after his sentence ended, he was subjected to enforced disappearance for three weeks before being newly charged with ‘disseminating false news’ and ‘joining a terrorist group’ by the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP). He exceeded the maximum legal limit of pre-trial detention without trial on 5 September 2023; however, Egyptian authorities continue to detain him arbitrarily. In August 2025, the SSSP brought new charges against El-Behairy in two separate cases on August 19 and 27, 2025. The charges – based solely on a report by National Security officers dating to 2023 – include “disseminating fake news” and “joining and aiding a terrorist organisation”.

El-Behairy’s health has significantly deteriorated due to his imprisonment, poor prison conditions, lack of adequate medical care, and prolonged hunger strikes. PEN International previously raised concerns about his mental health in prison following his attempt to commit suicide in September 2023 because of his continued detention.

Egyptian authorities have continued to arbitrarily detain cartoonist and translator Ashraf Omar without a trial on bogus national security charges since July 2024. He was arrested from his home and taken to an unknown location before appearing at the SSSP, who questioned him about his work, including translations and cartoons, before ordering his pre-trial detention on trumped-up charges, including ‘dissemination of false news’, ‘misusing the internet’, and ‘membership of a terrorist group’.

For more information on Galal El-Behairy’s case, please click here.

For more information on Ashraf Omar’s case, please click here.

Note to editors:

• For more information, please contact Mina Thabet, Head of the MENA Region, email: Mina.Thabet@pen-international.org

• For media queries, please contact Sabrina Tucci, Communications and Campaigns Manager at PEN International: Sabrina.Tucci@pen-international.org