Cairo (AFP)

Egypt released six activists on Sunday, including journalist and blogger Esraa Abdel-Fattah, one of the symbols of the 2011 revolution, days after the United States raised concerns over human rights violations in the country.

Since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power in 2014, the Egyptian authorities have led a ruthless crackdown against all types of opposition, Islamist as well as liberal.

According to analysts, the release of these activists is a way of reassuring internationally, after the United States this week warned Cairo against the targeting of human rights activists and indicated that this would be taken into account when negotiations for arms sales between the two allied countries.

In a surprise decision, the Egyptian prosecution ordered the release of Esraa Abdel-Fattah, 43, on Saturday evening, after nearly 22 months of pretrial detention without trial.

In Egypt, by law, periods of pre-trial detention without trial can be extended up to two years.

Lawyer Khaled Ali posted a photo of the activist on Facebook after she was released from prison on Sunday.

- "False information" -

Known for having been one of the founders of the "April 6 Movement" in 2008, three years later at the origin of the mobilization of millions of Egyptians during the revolt which caused the fall of Hosni Mubarak in the wake of the Arab Spring, she was arrested in October 2019 for "spreading false news" and "collaborating with a terrorist group".

His arrest had provoked many criticisms.

Opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood when they came to power in Egypt in 2012, Esraa Abdel-Fattah supported calls to overthrow their regime and the protests that led to the departure of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.

She was also imprisoned during the time of Hosni Mubarak, after the creation of the "April 6 Movement" and her call for a workers' strike in the town of Mahalla in the Nile Delta the same year.

Egyptian justice also decided on Saturday to release activist Abdel Nasser Ismaïl, leader of the Popular Alliance Party (left), arrested in September 2019 for "participation in a terrorist group", according to human rights lawyers.

Egyptian journalist and opponent Gamal el-Gammal, arrested on his return from Turkey in February, has also been released, along with lawyer and human rights activist Mahienour el-Masry, as well as journalists Motaz Wadnan and Mostafa el- Asar.

All in pre-trial detention since their arrest, these activists were accused of disseminating "false information" and of cooperating "with terrorists" or other "illegal groups".

They were released pending the end of the investigation concerning them, according to judicial and security sources.

- Impact abroad -

"We have been expecting for a while that releases will take place," editor-in-chief of Al-Shorouk newspaper Mohammed Saad Abdel Hafiz told AFP.

"Already last week, 150 little-known activists were released and some officials told us others would follow."

These releases "aim to calm tensions in the country and could have a positive impact on the image of Egypt abroad," said Moustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, professor of political science at the University of Cairo.

"But I doubt that will change the situation because there are a lot of political prisoners" still in detention, he adds.

Another well-known journalist in Egypt, Abdel Nasser Salam, was arrested after criticizing President Sisi on Facebook, senior security officials said on Sunday without providing further details.

Former editor-in-chief of Al Ahram newspaper, Mr. Salam accused the president of endangering the country's interests by failing to resolve a dispute with Ethiopia over the construction of a dam on the Nile, and demanded that he "resign immediately".

Egypt has more than 60,000 prisoners of conscience according to NGOs and the country is regularly singled out for human rights violations in the country.

On Wednesday, Washington reacted to news of the indictment of influential Egyptian activist Hassam Bahgat, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (IEDR).

"We have indicated to the Egyptian government our deep conviction that individuals such as Hossam Bahgat should not be targeted for having peacefully expressed their opinion," said US State Department spokesman Ned Price.

In March, 31 countries - including France and the United States - called on Egypt to stop abusing its counterterrorism legislation to muzzle opponents of the regime, rights defenders and journalists and to keep them indefinitely. critical voices in pre-trial detention, in a statement to the United Nations in Geneva.

© 2021 AFP