No directives have been made to release prisoners on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising and Police Day, said the Interior Ministry on Monday, although the ministry said it would be ready to implement the decision once it receives the directive.
The ministry’s public relations and media official, Abu Bakr Abdel Karim, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that presidential pardons cover prisoners jailed for criminal offenses who had spent half of their terms, explaining that pardons are given by the presidency on special occasions.
On January 12, the government's Official Gazette published President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's decision No. 1/2016, which involved the release of prisoners who had spent half of their prison terms by January 25.
News reports had quoted official sources as saying that the pardons would cover 500 prisoners including reporters and political activists. The sources added that seven prisons nationwide were in the process of releasing the prisoners as per pardons traditionally granted four times a year.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
