Freed After a Decade, Activist Alaa Abdel Fattah ‘Learns How to Live Again’

Freed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah says he is “learning how to get back into life,” speaking publicly for the first time since his release from an Egyptian prison last month.

“I’m doing much better than I would have expected,” the 43-year-old told the BBC from Cairo, reflecting on his recovery after more than a decade behind bars.

Once Egypt’s most prominent political prisoner, Abdel Fattah was pardoned by the president on 23 September, following an intense international campaign. Now, he is savoring the “small things, which are the big things,” like watching his young niece dance and sharing his teenage son’s excitement for music.

He described the “sensory overwhelm” of freedom—feeling the sun, seeing the moon, and receiving family hugs after years where the only human touch was from guards.

A Decade of Imprisonment

A key voice in the 2011 uprising, Abdel Fattah was repeatedly jailed for his pro-democracy activism and writing. His worst experience was in the notorious Scorpion Prison, an underground facility of “total lockdown” where he was told his incarceration would be indefinite.

The despair nearly broke him. “At one point I drowned in suicidal ideation… I don’t know that I coped. But I survived,” he said. In 2022, he escalated a hunger strike to the point of losing consciousness, a moment that terrified him but also prompted a “deep change.”

An Uncertain Future

His release brings “great relief,” especially for his mother, who herself went on hunger strike for him. He now hopes to travel to the UK with his son, who attends a special school there, but it’s unclear if Egyptian authorities will grant him permission.

While he says his days of street activism are “definitely” over, his commitment to a “better world” remains. “I’m coming out into a very different world and finding my place in it… is going to take time,” he says. “Right now, I’m just in recovery mode.”

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