A pardoned inmate gets a hug from his family after receiving a presidential pardon in July. Facebook/Presidential Pardon Committee member Tarek El-Khouly
MP Tarek El-Khouly, another committee member, said cooperation and coordination is underway with state authorities and the Public Prosecution to release the new group of detainees tomorrow.
Commenting on the decision, MP Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, a member of the pardon committee and deputy head of the parliament's human rights committee, thanked President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, Prosecutor-General Hamada El-Sawy, and relevant authorities for their continuous coordination with the committee.
Since May, the Public Prosecution has ordered the release of hundreds of pretrial detainees in groups, as the government and various political forces prepare for the extensive National Political Dialogue that will discuss pressing political, economic and social issues.
During this month, Egypt has already released over 100 pretrial detainees, including Ahmed El-Nagdy, a journalist at the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV channel, and prominent leftist activist and lawyer Haitham Mohamadein.
Also, President El-Sisi has pardoned many high-profile political activists who had received final sentences, including Hossam Mones, Yahia Abdel-Hady, Hisham Fouad and others, since the re-activation of the Presidential Pardon Committee in April.
The committee, which was first formed in 2016, receives the names of prisoners for presidential pardon consideration from various parties and political forces, including the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), parliament’s Human Rights Committee, as well as directly through its own official website.
The scope of the work of the reactivated committee has been expanded to include imprisoned debtors.
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