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| Abdel-Fattah met his son for the first time |
One of the
first online activists to protest against Egypt's former leader Hosni Mubarak
has been released from prison following two months' detention.
One of
Egypt's pioneering online activists, who was a leading figure in the February
protests that ended the rule of former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, was
released from detention on Sunday after being held for nearly two months.
Alaa
Abdel-Fattah was detained at the end of October for refusing to take part in a
military investigation into a protest rally he was a part of on October 9. The
protests turned violent when security forces advanced on the crowd, and
Abdel-Fattah and 27 others were accused - but never formally charged - of
inciting the violence.
"We
know from the beginning that I am not the one who killed people,"
Abdel-Fattah said outside of Cairo's police headquarters following his release,
in remarks carried on news network Al-Jazeera. "We have not gone after the
real criminals who killed people."
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| Plenty of Egyptians supported Abdel-Fattah during his detention |
While
greeting reporters, Abdel-Fattah also met his son Khaled, who was born while
his father was in prison.
Military
rulers
Abdel-Fattah's
case is still open, but has been turned over to a civilian court, and he will
not be allowed to leave the country as long as the investigation is ongoing.
His
supporters maintain that Abdel-Fattah was targeted in an effort to silence a
prominent critic and absolve the military for its role in the violence at
protests that left 27 people dead. Some of the victims, according to activists,
were killed when they were run over by military vehicles.
Activists
like Abdel-Fattah are putting pressure on Egypt's new military rulers because
they say little has changed since the generals took power following Mubarak's
ouster.
Many accuse
the military of violently crushing opposition and killing dozens of protesters.
Author:
Matt Zuvela (AFP, Reuters, AP)
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