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Egypt’s best-known political prisoner, Alaa Abd El-Fattah, was granted a presidential pardon on Monday and has reunited with his family after spending most of the last 12 years in prison. The writer and political dissident was a leading voice in the 2011 Arab Spring protests that toppled the Mubarak dictatorship, and he has been repeatedly targeted by the current authoritarian government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Most recently, he was sentenced to five years in prison for a Facebook post. That sentence ended last September, but authorities refused to release him, saying his two years of pretrial detention did not count. Monday’s pardon comes after years of international pressure to “Free Alaa,” including in the United Kingdom, where he also holds citizenship. Both Alaa and his mother, Laila Soueif, participated in lengthy hunger strikes.

Ahdaf Soueif, Abd El-Fattah’s aunt, says his release has brought the family “tremendous relief,” as well as “hope that this is the beginning of the release of a lot of other political prisoners” in Egypt.

We also speak with journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who has covered the case for many years. “Alaa is free, but he doesn’t have justice,” he says. “There’s still so many thousands of political prisoners in Egypt, including dozens who are behind bars simply for speaking out in solidarity with Palestine and against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”

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This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: Egypt’s most prominent political prisoner, Alaa Abd El-Fattah, has been released and reunited with his family after being granted a presidential pardon on Monday along with several other prisoners. Alaa is 43 years old. He spent most of the last 12 years of his life in prison. The writer, blogger and political dissident was a leading voice in the 2011 Arab Spring protests that toppled the Mubarak dictatorship, and has been repeatedly targeted by the current authoritarian government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Most recently, he was sentenced to five years in prison for a Facebook post. That sentence ended last September, but authorities refused to release him until now, saying his two years of pretrial detention didn’t count.

Monday’s pardon comes after years of international pressure led by his family to free Alaa, including in the United Kingdom, where he also holds citizenship. Both Alaa and his mother, Laila Soueif, went on extended hunger strike to draw attention to his case. This is one of Alaa’s sisters, Sanaa Seif, speaking at the family home after Alaa’s release.

SANAA SEIF: [translated] I cannot believe myself, for sure. I cannot yet comprehend that this is real and that Alaa is with us. I cannot believe that I’m seeing him here at home among us normally. I guess it will feel more real when we go to sleep, wake up and find him present, and when his son arrives here from traveling. I’m really happy.

AMY GOODMAN: Sanaa is one of Alaa’s two sisters. And this is Alaa’s mother, professor Laila Soueif.

LAILA SOUEIF: [translated] Despite our great joy, the biggest joy is when there are no political prisoners. The big and real joy is when there are no political prisoners.

AMY GOODMAN: We go now to London, where we’re joined with Laila Soueif’s sister, the renowned writer Ahdaf Soueif. She is Alaa Abd El-Fattah’s aunt, the author of several books, including The Map of Love, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and Cairo: My City, Our Revolution. And here in New York, we’re joined by Sharif Abdel Kouddous, award-winning journalist, Middle East, North Africa editor at Drop Site News.

We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Ahdaf, if you can share your feelings today, just 24 hours after it was announced that your nephew was pardoned?

AHDAF SOUEIF: Amy, hi. Hello to you and to all your viewers.

I really don’t even know how to — I mean, how to describe my feelings. It’s a tremendous relief. We keep saying, “Is this over? Is this — can we stop now?” I haven’t seen Alaa. I’ve spoken to him on the phone. So, tremendous, tremendous relief, and also a lot of very active hope that this is the beginning of the release of a lot of other political prisoners, as well.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re showing images of your sister, the Cairo University math professor Laila Soueif, hugging her son. She and Alaa himself almost died in their hunger strike. She did it in Britain, thinking that was the pressure point that would bring him home, the British prime minister putting pressure on Sisi, and, of course, Alaa in prison. What about their health?

AHDAF SOUEIF: Well, they’re looking, I think, pretty haggard, pretty gaunt. This is masked, to an extent, maybe masked, maybe even highlighted, really, by how clearly happy and joyful they are. But I think that getting back to health, getting back to a good weight, is really paramount for them both. Now, they’ve been under a lot, a lot of stress. And hunger strikes are — you know,........

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