Four years ago on Tuesday, activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah was arrested on charges of violating Egypt's protest law. Fattah was demonstrating against extended government power that allowed civilians to be tried in military court.
In February Fattah, at the age of 32, was sentenced to five years in prison. But Egyptians haven't forgotten about the civil rights activist.
On Tuesday the anniversary of Fattah's arrest during the Arab Spring incited a social media campaign to free him. It evolved to become more than just a call for Fattah's release, but for the freedom of all military prisoners. Among them are believed to be Mustafa Masooni, an Egyptian social media activist who went missing.
A handful of English and Arabic hashtags took off with thousands of users — #FreeAlaa, #FreeAllPrisonersofConscience, الحرية_لعلاء_عبد_الفتاح# (#FreedomForAlaaAbdelFattah), and ماصوني_فين# (#FreeMasooni). Thousands of Egyptians changed their Twitter profile images to a photo of Fattah.
"Here in my cell, I wrestle with my dreams and my nightmares..." #FreeAlaa #FreeAllPrisonersOfConscience pic.twitter.com/25NGZXgPju
— 'Gbénga Sèsan (@gbengasesan) October 27, 2015عام منذ اعتقال علاء عبد الفتاح..و42 ألف معتقل سياسي في سجون السيسي #FreeAlaa #الحرية_لعلاء_عبد_الفتاح
— Neila Hammi (@Neila_Hammi) October 27, 2015It has been a year now for Alaa in jail with his other 42,000 political inmates.
المفروض لما حد بيتخطف بنروح للشرطه تجيبهولنا .. انما الشرطه هيا اللي بتخطف !! طب .. #ماصوني_فين ؟
— σαμ (@SamarKotbZ) October 17, 2015@natalia68_ who is smeda?
— Bo~Omar (@H3R2010) October 27, 2015
