Abd El Fattah was born in Cairo and grew up in a family of activists. His father was a human rights attorney, his mother is a professor and political activist, and both of his sisters, Mona Seif and Sanaa Seif, have raised awareness for civilian detainees, co-founded an independent newspaper during the Arab Spring, respectively, and faced persecution and jail time. Abd El Fattah along with his wife, Manal Hassan, created the online blog aggregators Manalaa and Omraneya — the first Arab blog aggregators to not exclude writing based on its content.
In November 2013, 20 policemen raided Abd El Fattah’s home to arrest him again on the charge of organizing a protest without a permit under Egypt’s Protest Law. The police seized the family’s computers and phones, and when Abd El Fattah asked to see the arrest warrant, the police physically assaulted him and his wife. Abd El Fattah was arrested and detained for 115 days without trial until he was released on bail in March 2014. In June 2014, Abd El Fattah was convicted in absentia, after being prohibited from entering the courthouse, of violating Egypt’s Protest Law and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Abd El Fattah was granted a retrial following an appeal, and on February 23, 2015, his sentence was reduced to five years in prison.
On March 29, 2019, Abd El Fattah was released from prison after serving five years. However, he remained subject to a five-year parole period, in which he was required to stay overnight at a police station for 12 hours daily. On September 29, 2019, Abd El Fattah was re-arrested by the Egyptian authorities amidst a crackdown on the 2019 protests happening in Egypt, despite being on his five-year probation and not personally taking part in the demonstrations, according to his family.
On January 17, 2020, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights released a statement calling for a Red Cross investigation into the condition of the prison in which Abd El Fattah is held. The organization demanded an investigation into the torture of Abd El Fattah and his lawyer, Mohamed al-Baqer. Abd El Fattah was beaten, threatened and robbed in prison while reports claimed that the health of the two prisoners were deteriorating as they were denied warm clothing, blankets, medicine, food, clean water, exercise, and outdoor access. On January 22, 2021, Abd El Fattah appeared at a routine 15-day renewal of his detention where he made a statement to the court, questioning the reasons for his arbitrary detention.
On April 16, 2020, Abd El Fattah went on a hunger strike to protest the ban on family visits to Tora prison, where he is currently being held, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. His family has not seen him for over three months, and on June 23, 2020 his sister Sanaa Seif, also an activist, was harassed and abducted after protesting outside of the prison. Her family says she is being held and questioned by state security forces. On September 29, 2020, Abd El Fattah was remanded for another 45 days. Abd El Fattah’s arbitrary detainment sparked international backlash. October 19, 2020, US Congressmen and lawmakers signed a letter calling for Abd El Fattah’s release, and on October 21, 2020, over 200 EU lawmakers signed a letter demanding release of Egyptian prisoners including Abd El Fattah.
On September 11, 2021, after detaining Abd El Fattah for nearly two years without trial, Cairo Criminal Court discussed extending the pre-trial detention of Alaa Abd El Fattah. At the extension hearing, Adb El Fattah told the judge that he would contemplate suicide if forced to continue staying in a solitary cell in the Tora Prison. Despite Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi announcing his government’s new “human rights strategy” two days earlier, Abd El Fattah’s pre-trial imprisonment was extended by 45 days.
On September 16, 2021, Abd El Fattah’s mother published an essay on his behalf titled “Palestine on my mind.” In this essay, based on letters he sent to his mother as well as conversations they had at the prison, Abd El Fattah explained his constant thoughts about Palestine. A collection of translated writings titled You Have Not Yet Been Defeated is expected to be published by independent publisher Fitzcarraldo Editions in the UK on October 20, 2021. The book is Abd El Fattah’s first collection to be published in English with a preface by writer and activist Naomi Klein.
On December 20, 2021, Abd El Fattah was sentenced to an additional five years in prison on spurious charges of “broadcasting false news” related to a social media post. Two months later, on February 22, an emergency court ratified the sentence against Abd El Fattah and confirmed that the two years that he was detained before his trial will not be deducted from his sentence. On April 2, Abd El Fattah began an open hunger strike in protest of his conditions in prison and to demand recourse for mistreatment and abuse. His family successfully appealed the British government to grant Abd El Fattah British citizenship on April 12, and he began to ask the Egyptian government for consular visits from U.K. officials. His family is also hoping that this new citizenship opens up an avenue for his Egyptian citizenship being revoked so he can be released and leave Egypt.
On May 18, Abd El Fattah was transferred to Wadi El-Natrun prison from Tora prison, where he was allegedly tortured and beaten by prison officials.