Alaa Abd El-Fattah. Photo: Amnesty International.
In 2011, during the early days of the Arab Spring, Alaa Abd El-Fattah, 29-year-old software developer, blogger, and activist, made history as one of the leading architects of Egypt’s January 25 Revolution, which led to the downfall of President Hosni Mubarak. This year, on November 18, Alaa turned 41 in one of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s notoriously brutal prisons, convicted of “spreading false news.”