During the Egyptian Family Iftar banquet that was held on Tuesday, El-Sisi announced the re-activation of the Presidential Pardon Committee, which was initially formed in October 2016 to review the cases of those imprisoned for political crimes and others who meet certain criteria, such as having more than one relative in jail.

Reactivating the committee, expanding its scope of work and restructuring it confirms that there is real intention to close a file that tends to distort Egypt’s image abroad and have negative effects on any opportunities to conduct an effective and integral political dialogue, a statement by the NCHR read on Wednesday.

The committee is set to receive from the NCHR and the Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives the names of imprisoned youth from various parties and political forces.

Earlier this week, the country’s Public Prosecution released 41 pretrial detainees, some of which were political and economic activists.

Meanwhile, following the announcement of the committee reactivation, Egyptian authorities announced the release of 3,273 inmates with a presidential pardon on the occasion of Sinai Liberation Day, which falls on 25 April.

The NCHR welcomes the president’s call to launch a comprehensive political dialogue commensurate with the state’s efforts to build a new republic “based on the foundations of justice, equality, freedom and sound democratic practice,” the statement added.

The council welcomed El-Sisi’s invitation to the National Youth Conference, which aims to conduct a political dialogue on the priorities of a national action plan.

In the same context, the NCHR expressed its full readiness to work with the administration of the National Youth Conference to ensure the success of the comprehensive political dialogue.

The council said that it looks forward to being an effective part of the launch of a dialogue involving civil society organisations and the Ministry of Solidarity to propose legislative amendments to achieve the goals of sustainable development.