Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has granted a presidential pardon to British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah and five other prisoners, following an appeal by the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) earlier this month. The Egyptian constitution authorizes the president to grant individual pardons that reduce or commute sentences without overturning judicial verdicts. Besides Abdel-Fattah, the pardon covers Saeed Magally Al-Dou Aliwa, Karam Abdel Samee Ismail Al-Saadany, Walaa Gamal Saad Mohamed, Alaa Ahmed Seif El-Islam Abdel-Fattah Hamad, Mohamed Abdel Khalek Abdel Aziz Abdel Latif, and Mansour Abdel Gaber Ali Abdel Razek. Background on Alaa Abdel-FattahA leading figure in Egypt’s 2011 uprising, Abdel-Fattah has faced repeated prosecutions over the past decade. The Egyptian government has, in recent years, expanded presidential clemency initiatives and increased reviews of pretrial detention, resulting in the release of hundreds of detainees.