Arabic Network Welcomes Presidential Pardons for Journalists in Egypt

The Arab Network for Digital Media and Human Rights welcomed Presidential Pardon Decision No. 329 of 2022 issued by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to a number of prisoners who have received final judicial rulings, among them are journalist Hisham Fouad, actor Tariq Al-Nahry, researcher Ahmed Samir Abdel Hai, Qassem Ashraf Qassem Ahmed, Abdel RaoufKhattab Hassan Khattab, Tariq Muhammad Al Mahdi Siddiq, and Khaled Abdel MoneimSadiq Saber.

According to media statements by Mr. DiaaRashwan, head of the Journalists Syndicate and head of the National Dialogue Committee,5 journalists have been released from the Syndicate of Journalists so far and 7 members remain, in addition to 7 others who are not members of the Journalists Syndicate, Rashwan confirmed that he is doing his best with the Presidential Pardon Committee to release them.

The Arab Network believes that the succession of presidential pardon decisions since the Egyptian president announced the start of the national dialogue works reflects the seriousness of the trend towards political reform in Egypt, implementation of the national human rights strategy and openness to the demands of human rights institutions by releasing those imprisoned in opinion cases to participate and reintegrate back into the political community and giving them another opportunity to return to political and social work.

The committee has set clear standards for dealing with imprisoned youth, these standards include non-interference in cases of joining terrorist organizations, not to release anyone who used violence against the Egyptian people, incited violence, or caused a direct violation of the right to life during the past years.

It is worth noting that the Egyptian President has issued presidential pardons for thousands of prisoners during the past few years on various national and religious occasions, including 727 prisoners on the 70th anniversary of the revolution of July 23, 1952, and 1270 prisoners on the occasion of Eid al-Adha in early July.

The Arab Network for Digital Media and Human Rights calls on the Egyptian administration to continue issuing more presidential pardons during the next In order to achieve the hoped-for progress in this file, which would help improve the atmosphere of the national dialogue.