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Egypt dissidents revive rich prison writing tradition
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In this file photo taken on May 23, 2015, Egyptian activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah gestures from behind the defendant's cage during his trial for insulting the judiciary alongside 25 other defendants including ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, who was recently sentenced to death, in the capital Cairo. (AFP/Khaled Desouki)
H
aving spent the better part of a decade behind bars, Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah is reaching beyond his cell with a new book.
Egypt has a long history of political prisoners turning to writing to capture their experiences in confinement.
An icon of the 2011 revolt that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak, Abdel Fattah wrote prolifically over the years, becoming one of the best-known voices of the protest movement.
His writings have now been anthologised into a book published this week, titled: You Have Not Yet Been Defeated.
With a foreword by Canadian author Naomi Klein, the title of the nearly 450-page book released by a British publisher is a nod to Abdel Fattah's continued public engagement, even while in solitary confinement.
"He has different voices with his writing, from the technical to the passionate and poetic," his mother, veteran activist Laila Soueif, told AFP.
"The form of expression may differ but at its fundamental core, his writing is attached to justice," she added.
