25 detainees ordered released in 2 days

Release orders for 25 imprisoned detainees, mostly activists and politicians jailed without trial for as long as four years, were issued over the course of Sunday and Monday by judicial authorities, according to several lawyers who spoke to Mada Masr.

A number of high profile political detainees have been released over recent weeks, as a newly re-formed presidential pardon committee has sprung into action alongside the president’s launch of a “national political dialogue,” heralded as a forum to foster political diversity, inclusivity and participation.

The names of many of those newly released were featured on lists that non-establishment political figures submitted to authorities in April,  having conditioned their participation in the national dialogue on progress in the prisoners’ cases. 

Fourteen of the detainees were ordered released from remand detention on Sunday by the Cairo Criminal Court, including translator, Kholoud Saeed, who has been imprisoned without trial for two years. The State Security Prosecution ordered the release of a further 11 people over the course of Sunday and Monday.

At the time of writing, four of the 25 people had been released so far, according to lawyer Mohamed Hafez: former April 6th Youth Movement spokesperson Sharif al-Rouby, publisher and novelist Ayman Abdel Moaty, Bread and Freedom Party member Mohamed Waleed, who were detained since October 2019, and activist Sameh Seoudi, who was detained since August 2018.

All four were released on Monday from Abu Zaabal Prison in Qalyubiya, Hafez said.

Also named in the release orders were former MP Mohamed Mohie Eddin, blogger Abdel Rahman “Mocha” Tarek, detained since September 2019, and TV anchor Khaled Ghoniem, who has been detained since 2020.

Accountant Alaa Essam and activist Mohamed Reda al-Sayed Gomaa, who were both detained since July 2019 in a case involving defendants from the Coalition for Hope, a group that sought to field candidates in the 2020 parliamentary elections, as well as Hussein Khamis, who has been detained since September 2020, are also set for release.

Accountant Alaa Essam and activist Mohamed Reda al-Sayed Gomaa, who have both been detained since July 2019 for involvement in forming the Coalition of Hope, a group that sought to field candidates in the 2020 parliamentary elections, as well as Hussein Khamis, detained since September 2020, are also set for release.

Meanwhile, lawyers Khaled Ali and Mohamed Ahmed published lists on Facebook on Sunday, naming 14 detainees to be released pending four different political cases.

The total number of detainees set to be released this week is not something that the presidential amnesty committee is aware of, according to committee member Tarek al-Awady. The committee reviewed detainees’ files, and sent lists of their names to the Public Prosecution, Awady told Mada Masr, and from there, the prosecution works independently.

The State Security Prosecution, meanwhile, is expected to continue issuing release orders until Thursday, Awady added. A number of convicted prisoners are also due to receive presidential pardons over the coming days, pending the president’s signature, according to Awady, listing former Civil Democratic Movement spokesperson Yahia Hussein Abdel Hady, who was sentenced to four years in prison last week, as well as journalist Hisham Fouad, among others. 

According to Awady, it is “too early” to say whether former presidential candidate Abdel Moniem Abouel Fotouh, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison on terrorism charges on Sunday after spending nearly four years in remand detention.

Several members of the presidential amnesty committee announced that the relevant authorities have approved the release of over a thousand political detainees. Earlier in mid-May, Awady had specified that 1,074 were scheduled to be released by the end of the week before last.