The Egyptian-British human rights activist and writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been pardoned after almost six years in jail in Egypt and hunger strikes by Abd el-Fattah and his mother.

The announcement was made on Monday in Egypt’s official gazette and followed an appeal from the National Council for Human Rights, the television channel Al Qahera News reported.

In a post on X, Abd el-Fattah’s sister, Mona Seif, said: “My heart is going to stop.”

Abd el-Fattah was arrested in September 2019 and was sentenced in December 2021 to five years in prison for “spreading false news” and harming Egypt’s national interest.

Rights groups have said Abd el-Fattah faced a “grossly unfair trial”.

He emerged as a leading pro-democracy activist and blogger during Egypt’s 2011 popular uprising, which fo

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