Rights group hails latest presidential pardons for prisoners in Egypt – Politics – Egypt
Carolyn M. Pride
2 min read
Diaa Rashwan (File photo: Al-Ahram)
On Friday, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi released a new list of pardons that included journalist Hisham Fouad, who was sentenced last November to four years in prison for spreading false news on social media with other convicts. in a case mentioned by the media under the name of “Hope Cell Plot”.
The list also included actor Tariq Al-Nahry, researcher Ahmed Samir Abdel Hai, Qassem Ashraf Qassem Ahmed, Abdel Raouf Khattab Hassan Khattab, Tariq Muhammad Al Mahdi Siddiq and Khaled Abdel Moneim Sadiq Saber.
More than 700 prisoners have been released since the activation of the Presidential Pardon Committee, the statement added citing media remarks by Egypt’s National Political Dialogue (NPD) coordinator and head of the press syndicate Diaa Rashwan.
On April 26, El-Sisi announced at the Egyptian family’s annual Iftar banquet the reactivation of the Presidential Pardon Committee – which was originally formed in October 2016.
The ANDMHR statement also cited Rashwan’s latest remakes that the pardons will pave the way for the establishment of a national dialogue between national forces without exclusion.
“The succession of presidential pardons…reflects the seriousness of the political reform trend in Egypt…the implementation of the national human rights strategy and the openness to accepting that those imprisoned in matters of opinion participate and reintegrate into the political community,” ANDMHR added.
Furthermore, he called for granting more presidential pardons to achieve the targeted progress to improve the atmosphere of national dialogue.
The Egyptian president said the Muslim Brotherhood designated as terrorists would not be invited to the dialogue.
The ANDMHR statement noted that the Presidential Pardon Committee has set clear standards for dealing with imprisoned youth, including non-interference in cases of membership in terrorist organizations and non-release of anyone who has used violence against the Egyptian people, incited violence or caused a direct violation. of the right to life in recent years.
On Saturday, the 19-member NDP board of directors held its third organizational meeting. It agreed on the economic and political fundamentals of the conduct of the dialogue.
The previous meetings established the statutes as well as the code of conduct and ethics in 25 articles of the dialogue and formed the sub-committees under the political track of the dialogue.
Rashwan stressed that the objective of the dialogue is to reach “common ground” among the participants, including political, partisan and trade union forces.
El-Sisi has granted presidential pardons to thousands of prisoners in recent years on various national and religious occasions, including 727 prisoners on the 70th anniversary of the July 23 Revolution and 1,270 prisoners during Eid. al-Adha earlier this month, according to ANDMHR. .
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