Sisi pardons hundreds jailed for staging protests
CAIRO — Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi on Wednesday pardoned more than 330 young people, most of whom had been convicted and jailed for their participation in illegal protests.
Egypt’s president has the authority to pardon those who have been convicted and cannot appeal their sentences. Authorities in Muslim countries traditionally release prisoners on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan as a show of mercy. Ramadan begins on Thursday this year.
In televised remarks, El Sisi said he ordered that all the procedures be completed so the prisoners can “eat sohour at their homes,” referring to the pre-dawn meal before the daily sunup-to-sundown fast.
Officials say a total of 332 prisoners will be released, including prodemocracy activists who were found in violation of a 2013 law that prohibits unauthorised protests.
Secular activists Andrew Nassef of the unofficial leftist Bread and Freedom Party, and Islam Fouad of the opposition Dostour (Constitution) party were among those pardoned, the officials said. Islam Marei, of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, is also on the list, they said.
Egypt has waged a massive crackdown on dissent since El Sisi led the military overthrow of president Mohammed Morsi in 2013 amid mass protests against his yearlong rule. Thousands of people have been jailed, including several prominent secular activists who defied the protest ban.
Those measures have virtually eliminated street activism in Egypt, where mass protests in 2011 ended President Hosni Mubarak’s nearly 30-year rule. The government has also cracked down on online organizing by blocking hundreds of websites, including many run by independent journalists and rights groups. The government has defended such measures, saying it is trying to restore stability, revive the economy and defeat an Daesh-led insurgency based in the Sinai Peninsula.
Also on Wednesday, an Egyptian court added the names of 241 suspected militants to the country’s terrorism watch list for five years.