Mohamed Omar / DNE
President Mohamed Morsy issued a statement on Saturday releasing more Egyptian civilians under military trials. The committee convened by President Morsy to review the cases of civilians facing military trials deemed 58 inmates fit for release. The committee looks at a variety of factors, such as past criminal history and gravity of crimes convicted, when discerning between those to be released and those who have remained in military detention.
The No Military Trials movement rejects the government estimate of 1,5000 civilians in military jails, and is prohibited from accessing the official records from which the government claims to get its estimate.
The government continues to gradually release more civilians in military jails. President Morsy has the power to potentially release all civilians under military trials. However the civilian government has treated the issue of military prosecution in a sensitive manner. “The President didn’t want to go into a head-on collision with SCAF,” said Salma Abdelgelil, a member of the No Military Trials movement, “but today he has no reason, but we are putting more pressure on him due to his now higher authority.”
However, fear of public backlash could be a factor that prevents Morsy from taking swifter action, speculated Abdelgelil. Those looking to criticise the President could point to recent unrest in Cairo and the rest of the country and falsely blame it on “thugs” released from military prisons.
Among those released for Eid Al-Fitr is Sambo, a man who was arrested after November 2011 clashes at Mohamed Mahmoud. He forcefully took a rifle from a policeman, but did not use it.
In Morocco King Mohammed VI granted royal pardons to 562 prisoners according to state-owned news agency MAP. The total includes 371 pardoned for the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr. Of the 371 inmates, 57 were prisoners whose sentences were dropped or reduced for humanitarian reasons, while 183 had their sentences commuted and 64 prisoners’ sentences were completely dropped. The royal pardon included 191 female inmates.
The Kingdom had issued pardons or 1,007 inmates last month in honour of the 13-year anniversary of his coronation.
Pardons for the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr and other religious and national occasions are common throughout the Arab world.
Last week, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia pardoned 82 Egyptian prisoners detained in the Kingdom.
