According to a politician turned negotiator, Mohamed al-Sadat, Egypt on Sunday released 41 political prisoners from pre-trial detention.
“Forty-one of those held on remand detention on political charges and [charges related to] freedom of thought and expression” have been released, he disclosed.
Among those freed Sunday, prominent lawyer Khaled Ali told AFP, were journalist Mohamed Salah, researcher Abdo Fayed and activists Walid Shawky, Haitham al-Banna and Hassan al-Barbary.
Activist Radwa Mohamed, who was arrested in 2019 for criticizing the regime amid rare protests calling for Sisi’s removal from office, was another of those released, according to her lawyer Nabeeh al-Ganadi.
More detainees will be released, Sadat hinted, as “legal and humanitarian reviews” will very likely leave some eligible for “presidential pardons” that are conventionally handed down around Eid, set for the first week of May.
