The releases came as per decisions by the Public Prosecution, Abdel-Aziz , who is also deputy chairman of the Human Rights Committee in the House of Representatives, wrote on his Facebook page.

The authorities have recently released tens of pretrial detainees as the government and various political forces prepare for an extensive National Political Dialogue that will discuss pressing political, economic and social issues.

Since the launching of preparations for the national political dialogue in May and the re-activation of the Presidential Pardon Committee in April, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has pardoned a number of high-profile political activists who had received final sentences such as Hossam Mones, Yahia Abdel-Hady, Hisham Fouad and others.

The re-activated pardon committee, which was first formed in 2016, is receiving the names of prisoners for presidential pardon consideration from: various parties and political forces, the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), the Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives and families, as well as directly through its own official website.

The scope of the work of the re-activated committee has been expanded to include imprisoned male and female debtors.

The pardon committee includes MP Tarek El-Kholy, human rights lawyer Tarek El-Awady, and Egypt's former manpower minister Kamal Abu Eita.