http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/16/world/middleeast/egyptian-activist-alaa-abdel-fattah-is-released-on-bail.html 2014-09-15 23:17:53 Egyptian Activist Alaa Abd El Fattah Is Released on Bail Mr. Abd El Fattah, a blogger from a prominent family of writers and activists, was jailed under a new law restricting protests but released by a judge who cited potential “embarrassment.” === CAIRO — An Egyptian court on Monday released the left-leaning activist Alaa Abd El Fattah from prison on bail in a rare example of leniency in the thousands of cases of political dissenters arrested since the military takeover last year. Mr. Abd El Fattah, a pioneering Egyptian blogger from a prominent family of writers and activists, has been jailed under four different rulers: former President Hosni Mubarak; the military council that removed Mr. Mubarak from power; the ousted president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood; and the current president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the former general who led the takeover. In this case, Mr. Abd El Fattah was jailed for violating a new law severely restricting public demonstrations. He was initially sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. On Monday, however, the judge hearing a retrial of that case surprised the courtroom by abruptly recusing himself, citing unspecified potential “embarrassment,” and releasing Mr. Abd El Fattah on $700 bail. Two other defendants were also released on bail. A lawyer involved in the case suggested that the judge, Mohammad Ali Al Feqi, may have been reacting to an uproar after the last session of the trial when prosecutors were briefly allowed to show the courtroom a confiscated home movie of Mr. Abdel Fattah’s wife dancing — an invasion of privacy irrelevant to the case. Mr. Abdel Fattah’s father, Ahmed Seif, a respected human rights lawyer,