The Ministry of  Interior said its social protection department had studied the files of inmates in rehabilitation and correctional centres nationwide to determine those eligible for a presidential pardon.

The ministry said in a statement that the decision to release the prisoners is in line with "the interior ministry’s implementation of a modern punitive policy and providing all aspects of care to inmates.” 

President El-Sisi issued a decree last week pardoning some inmates on the occasion of the January 25 Revolution and the National Police Day anniversary.

Egypt has released through presidential pardon thousands of inmates on different national and religious occasions in recent years.

Wednesday, 25 January, marks the twelfth anniversary of the 2011 revolution that ousted the late president Hosni Mubarak.

It also marks Police Day. Police Day in Egypt is celebrated on the 25th of January to commemorate police heroism in the struggle against British occupation on that day in 1952. 

The presidential pardons granted on national and religious occasions are not connected to the activities of the Presidential Pardon Committee.