Egyptian security arrests youth activist Alaa Abdel Fattah

Egyptian security forces arrested the well-known activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, as he was leaving a police station, on Sunday morning.

فعلاء اتخطف من المراقبة من #قسم_الدقي ومش معروف هو فين والقسم بلغونا انه رايح نيابة أمن الدولة وادينا مستنيين اي معلومة تبان تطمنا عليه بجد مش كلام الداخلية اللي بيتغير كل ربع ساعة #علاء_فين #FreeAlaa

— Mona Seif (@Monasosh) September 29, 2019

Alaa’s sister, activist Mona Seif, said in her Twitter account that Alaa is expected to be brought before the State Security Prosecution. His arrest came after he left Dokki Police Station where he had been under night surveillance since his release on controlled conditions after five years in detention.

Mona added that security forces prevented their mother from approaching the police station and seeing him, meaning that the police officers “had intentionally misled her to prevent her from seeing Alaa while being detained.”

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Alaa Abdel Fattah is one of the activists who rose to prominence in the 25 January 2011 revolution. He was imprisoned after Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s coup against the democratically elected government, and the country’s subjection to another military and authoritarian rule. The activist is known for smuggling his articles outside the prison to newspapers, in which he monitored the pros and cons of activists’ work during the revolution.

Last week, the Egyptian authorities launched a massive campaign of arrests against thousands of activists and politicians for fear of demonstrations calling for the overthrow of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

Among those arrested were Hassan Nafaa, a political science professor at Cairo University, Hazem Hosni, spokesperson of the electoral campaign of former Egyptian army chief of staff Sami Annan, and Khaled Daoud, the head of the Constitution Party.

Egyptian journalists compared the arrests to those carried out by former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat on 3 September 1981, known as the “September arrests,” a month before his assassination, as part of protests against the Camp David Accords.

Greater Cairo governorates witnessed unprecedented security measures, especially around Tahrir Square. Dozens of central security armoured vehicles have been deployed at the entrances to the square, especially from Talaat Harb Street, in addition to several security forces stationing to secure the Egyptian Museum, Abdel Moneim Riad Square, and the Maspero Television Building.