Freed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah barred from flying to the UK

Recently freed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah was stopped at Egyptian passport control while attempting to fly to the UK, his family say.

Abd el-Fattah was pardoned by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on 22 September and released from Wadi al-Natrun prison after spending the best part of a decade behind bars.

The 43-year-old is one of the most well-known figures of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising and was jailed following Sisi's seizure of power in a 2013 military coup. 

Abd el-Fattah was due to travel to the UK with his sister Sanaa Seif on Tuesday to attend the Magnitsky Human Rights Awards in London, Seif said in a speech at the ceremony on Thursday.

Abd el-Fattah and his mother, Laila Soueif, who launched a 287-day hunger strike to demand his release from prison, had been awarded the Courage Under Fire award at the Magnitsky Human Rights Awards.

Seif collected the award on their behalf, saying in her speech: "I wish my brother could be here tonight to accept this award. I wish he could be reunited with his son Khaled in Brighton.

"I know if he was here my brother would have wanted to congratulate the other incredible award winners for their inspiring and tireless work. I thank you all again and hope that next year we can all be here together with Alaa sitting next to me."

Abd el-Fattah's 13-year-old son Khaled lives with his mother in Brighton, where he attends a special educational needs school. Khaled was briefly reunited with his father when he visited him in Egypt following his release, but he has since returned to the UK.

The Free Alaa campaign highlighted that UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer had given his personal commitment to secure Abd el-Fattah's release and to "reunite him with his family", in a meeting with Laila and family, a subsequent post on X and on several occasions in Parliament.