Wikipedia's first sentence called it “prominent egyptian blogger”. Today it says “egyptian-british software developer”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in October 6, 2023
Alaa Ahmed Seif Abd-El Fattah ( , ; born 18 November 1981), known professionally as Alaa Abd El-Fattah ( ), is an Egyptian-British blogger , software developer and a political activist .1 He has been active in developing Arabic-language versions of software and platforms. He was imprisoned in Egypt for allegedly organising a political protest without requesting authorization, though he was released on bail on 23 March 2014.2He was rearrested and ordered released on bail again on 15 September 2014, subsequently sentenced to a month of jail in absentia, and received a five-year sentence in February 2015, which he was released from in late March 2019.3Abd El-Fattah remained subject to a five-year parole period, requiring him to stay at a police station for 12 hours daily, from evening until morning.4On 29 September, during the 2019 Egyptian protests , Abd El-Fattah was arrested by the National Security Agency and taken to State Security Prosecution on charges that were unknown as of 29 September 2019 .5 He was subsequently convicted of "spreading fake news" and jailed for five years. In April 2022 he began a hunger strike .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1177370463.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Alaa Abd El-Fatah Alaa Abd El Fattah ( ) is a prominent Egyptian blogger , software developer, and democracy activist . He is known for co-founding (along with wife Manal) the Egyptian blog aggregator " Manalaa " . He has been active in developing Arabic-language versions of important software and platforms . His father, Ahmad Seif , is a prominent lawyer and manager of Hesham Mubarak Law Centre , and his mother, Prof. Laila Suief , is a mathematics professor in Cairo University and a political activist.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 361014900.
The opening as it stood in 2015 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Alaa Abd El-Fattah ( , ; born 18 November 1981), also presented in English as Alaa Abdel Fattah , is an Egyptian blogger , software developer and a political activist. He has been active in developing Arabic-language versions of important software and platforms. He was imprisoned in Egypt for allegedly organising a political protest without requesting authorization, though he was released on bail on 23 March 2014.He was ordered released on bail again on 15 September 2014.He was sentenced to a month of jail in absentia. @EgyptianLiberal , Twitter post, "21 Jun via Choqok".The date used here as birth date is presented without explanation -- just the date -- at the post.Worldchanging essay "Arabization – It's Harder than just Right to Left" December 2004 "Activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah released on bail" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 666003731.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Alaa Ahmed Seif Abd-El Fattah ( , ; born 18 November 1981), known professionally as Alaa Abd El-Fattah ( ), is an Egyptian blogger , software developer and a political activist. He has been active in developing Arabic-language versions of important software and platforms. He was imprisoned in Egypt for allegedly organising a political protest without requesting authorization, though he was released on bail on 23 March 2014. He was rearrested and ordered released on bail again on 15 September 2014, subsequently sentenced to a month of jail in absentia, and received a five-year sentence in February 2015, which he was released from in late March 2019.El-Fattah remained subject to a five-year parole period, requiring him to stay at a police station for 12 hours daily, from evening until morning.On 29 September, during the 2019 Egyptian protests , El-Fattah was arrested by the National Security Agency and taken to State Security Prosecution on charges that were unknown as of 29 September 2019 . @EgyptianLiberal , Twitter post, "21 Jun via Choqok". The date used here as birth date is presented without explanation -- just the date -- at the post.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 964328066.
The opening as it stood in 2025 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Egyptian writer and activist Alaa Ahmed Seif al Islam Abd El-Fattah ( Arabic : علاء أحمد سيف الإسلام عبد الفتاح , IPA: [ʕæˈlæːʔ ˈæħmæd ˈseːf ʕæbdelfatˈtæːħ] ), known professionally as Alaa Abd El-Fattah ( Arabic : علاء عبد الفتاح ), is an Egyptian-British blogger , software developer , and political activist . He has been active in developing Arabic-language versions of software and platforms. After a 2006 arrest by Egyptian police, El-Fattah was released without charge 45 days later.He was subsequently imprisoned in Egypt for organising a political protest without requesting authorisation, and released on bail on 23 March 2014.He was rearrested and ordered released on bail again on 15 September 2014, receiving a five-year sentence in February 2015, from which he was released in late March 2019.On 29 September 2019, during the 2019 Egyptian protests , Abd El-Fattah was re-arrested by the National Security Agency and taken to State Security Prosecution on unknown charges. He was subsequently convicted of "spreading fake news" and jailed for five years. In April 2022, he began a hunger strike . His family claims that his sentence should have ended on 29 September 2024 but the Egyptian authorities refused to free him, as the release date had been appointed in January 2027, based on the court’s decision not to include his served pretrial detention .On 30 September 2024, Abd El-Fattah's mother, Laila Soueif , began a hunger strike outside the British Foreign Office in London , remaining on strike as of 25 January 2025 , when she was joined by Australian journalist Peter Greste .In October 2024, Abd El-Fattah was named by Arundhati Roy , winner of the 2024 PEN Pinter Prize awarded by English PEN , as the "Writer of Courage" with whom she chose to share the prize.
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Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “prominent egyptian blogger”. Today it says “egyptian-british software developer”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
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What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
prominent egyptian blogger
Now
egyptian-british software developer
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.