Alaa Abd El-Fatah released

Alaa has finally be released after 45 days in prison. We heard the good news from Manal earlier this week. Here is a news report from the The Independent published on 21 June 2006.

Alaa has finally be released after 45 days in prison. We heard the good news from Manal earlier this week. Here is a news report from the The Independent published on 21 June 2006.

The Independent (co.uk)

Egypt releases blogger jailed for 45 days after ‘insulting’ President By

Jeff Black in Cairo Published: 21 June 2006

Egyptian authorities have ordered the release of an award-winning blogger

and activist, imprisoned 45 days ago on charges including insulting the

President.

Alaa Seif al-Islam, 24, who was arrested at a pro-reform demonstration on

7 May, had drawn the ire of the authorities for his provocative weblog and

taking part in banned street protests. He is expected to be released from

the Tora prison in Cairo today.

The release comes after a turbulent period of protest and violence in

Egypt. Practically all groups opposed to President Hosni Mubarak,

including the Muslim Brotherhood and secular groups such as Kifaya!

(Enough!) and Youth for Change have had members beaten. Hundreds have been

arrested.

Alaa’s wife, Manal, with whom he runs the website Manalaa.net, which won

an award from the media freedom group Reporters Without Borders, said

after the decision: "There’s no going back now, we’ll definitely be

continuing our activities."

Opposition groups have rallied around two judges on trial after making

allegations about election fraud. Since April, 48 activists associated

with Kifaya! and Youth for Change have been detained. Allegations of

sexual assault and torture have been made by prisoners. In particular, the

case of Mohammed al-Sharqawi, a Youth for Change member, who was

reportedly sexually assaulted while in custody, continues to cause rights

groups concern.

Alaa Seif al-Islam has risen to prominence as part of a new generation of

secular activists that, while lacking a specific political programme, are

in essence anti-authoritarian. The nephew of the author Ahdaf Soueif and

the son of veteran campaigners Dr Layla Soueif and Ahmed Seif, Alaa has

the dissident pedigree. However, he is a relative latecomer to street

protests. " After May 2005, when I was beaten up by police, it was then

that Alaa became an activist. Before that he didn’t get personally

involved," said his mother, Layla, a mathematics professor at Cairo

University.

Supporters highlight Alaa’s importance in pushing the boundaries for

political dissent through the internet. Nora Younis, a fellow blogger and

activist, said: "He raises the ceiling of what is possible. After others

were arrested on charges of ‘insulting the President’, he arranged a

petition on his site that said ‘we, the undersigned, insult the President’

- to be given to the Public Prosecutor."

Officials at the Ministry of the Interior were not available for comment

on the release, but analysts suggested that it did not signify a relaxing

of the government’s strict stance.

http://www.independent.co.uk//eceRedirect?articleId=1093520&pubId=55

http://www.manalaa.net/

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