Prominent Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Abdel Fattah was released from prison on Friday after serving a five-year term for illegally protesting, rioting and attacking public servants.

Abdel Fattah, 37, will be placed on probation for five years and will be required to spend each night at his local police station during that period.

The case dates back to November 2013, when clashes erupted outside parliament between police and protesters demanding the committee which was then tasked with drafting Egypt's new constitution remove articles allowing for military trials of civilians.

Abdel-Fattah, a blogger, programmer, and human rights activist who belongs to a prominent family of rights campaigners, was charged alongside 21 others arrested in the incident.

In 2014, a criminal court sentenced him to 15 years in prison, but in 2017 an appeals court reduced the sentence to five years in prison and five years’ probation.