Over 200 prominent personalities around the world - including writers, academics and actors - as well as human rights organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch - signed an open letter published Tuesday, to the Egyptian authorities for the release of Egyptian political activist Sanaa Seif.

Sanaa was arrested by the Egyptian authorities last June, knowing that she is the sister of Alaa Abdel Fattah, who was one of the most prominent political activists in the January 25, 2011 revolution that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak after three decades in power.

At the moment of her arrest, Sana was waiting with her family (her mother and sister) to report a case of "assault" against them by a group of women in front of Tora prison, where her brother is detained and the family wants to receive any message from him to reassure her.

Alaa was arrested in September 2019 following rare demonstrations calling for the departure of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who had assumed power in 2014 after leading a military coup against the late President Mohamed Morsi, who was the first elected president of Egypt after the January revolution.

According to the letter, the prosecution accuses Sana of "spreading false news and inciting terrorist crimes and misuse of social media."

It is noteworthy that the 26-year-old is the daughter of human rights activist Leila Suef and is the director of cinematic scenes. She worked on the documentary "Al-Midan" on the January 25 revolution in Egypt, which was nominated for an Oscar.

Sanaa joined her brother Alaa Abdel Fattah in Sisi prisons (European)

Noam Chomsky and Danny Glover

Among the sites of the speech are actors Danny Glover, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Thandi Newton, and prominent writers such as American Noam Chomsky, Indian Arundhati Roy, Nobel Prize winner for South African Literature GM Cozzi.

The signatories, including international human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, called on the authorities in Egypt to "immediately release Sanaa Saif and Alaa Abdel-Fattah and all detainees who exercised their rights to complete peace and stop the abuse of pretrial detention."

"The arrest of Sana is the latest example in the never-ending series of arrests (...) and the imposition of pre-trial detention and the prolongation of its duration," the letter said.

For its part, the Egyptian government has repeatedly denied accusations of human rights violations, and Sisi denied that Egypt held any political detainee.