From the prisons of Mubarak to the prisons of Al-Sisi

The most prominent icon of the January 25 Revolution, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, has today joined the revolutionaries behind bars after being sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. The verdict was issued in absentia against the background of the November 2013 Shura Council demonstration case but he was arrested outside the court.

Abdel-Fattah is a blogger, programmer and political activist who comes from a pure “human rights” family. His father, Ahmed Seif Al-Islam, is the founder of Hisham Mubarak Centre for Law; his mother, Lila Soeif, is a founding member of the 9 March Movement for the independence of universities; his aunt, Ahdaf Soueif, is a writer and journalist; his sister, Mona Seif, is the founder of the “No to Military Trials” group; and his younger sister, Sana Saif, is a political activist.

Alaa’s friends and colleagues did not have to worry about having any special graffiti for him or releasing a special social media hashtag for his freedom as everything was already in place; he had been arrested three times before. The first was in the era of ousted president Hosni Mubarak in 2006, for his solidarity with the sit-in of the Independence Stream judges in Egypt. His second arrest was during the rule of the military junta in 2011, when he stood before a military trial accused of being involved in the events of Maspero. The third time was linked to the same case of the Shura Council demonstrations, in November 2013, where he was first released and then sentenced, on Wednesday, to 15 years in prison.

An expert on body language, Shadia Metwally, has called Alaa the “Pink Dragon” for his clear humility and empathy, describing him as “sociable but very shy”.

The last words posted online before his arrest were, “Down with betrayers: army, Flol [Mubarak regime people], liberals, nationalists, artists, broadcasters and Muslim Brotherhood party members.”