Egypt releases 41 detainees, including political activists

Egypt’s Public Prosecution yesterday  released 41 political activists from pretrial detention, two days after President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said the country needs to engage in “political dialogue”, local human rights and political sources said.

The Reform and Development Party said in a statement yesterday, that its chairperson, Mohamed Anwar Esmat El-Sadat, celebrated with the families and relatives of the released “who had been in pretrial detention on political, freedom of opinion, and expression cases, and ascribe to various political orientations” without revealing the names, affiliations or other details of those released.

El-Sadat explained that the coming period will witness more “legal and humanitarian reviews” to release more pretrial detainees or convicts who meet the conditions of a police or presidential pardon.

Dr. Walaa Gad Al-Karim, a member of the  National Council for Human Rights, confirmed the decisions to release the 41 detainees, noting that the Ministry of Interior and the Public Prosecution have been very flexible in implementing the decision, Egypt’s Shorouk newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, lawmakers Tariq El-Khouly and Mohamed Abdel Aziz, undersecretary of the Human Rights Committee in the House of Representatives, said the released detainees include Walid Shawqi, Mohamed Salah, Amr Imam, Abdo Fayed, Haitham Al-Banna, Abdel Rahman Bassiouni and Hassan Barbari.

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