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Democratic lawmakers press Egypt to release jailed activist 

Fourteen US lawmakers are calling for the release of Alaa Abdel-Fattah, a jailed activist on hunger strike in Egypt. 
KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images

A group of Democratic lawmakers penned a letter Friday expressing solidarity with British members of parliament who are pushing Egypt to release Alaa Abdel-Fattah, a prominent activist on hunger strike who has spent most of the past decade in prison. 

Abdel-Fattah was a key protest figure in the 2011 revolution that toppled longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. After spending more than two years in pre-trial detention, an emergency court handed Abdel-Fattah a five-year prison sentence in December 2021 for “broadcasting false news” following a trial that rights groups described as grossly unfair

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