(AFP File Photo)
By Aya Nader
Interim President Adly Mansour issued a presidential decree on Sunday pardoning a number of prisoners who have served half of their sentences.
The presidential pardon came ahead of the third anniversary of the 2011 revolution, which coincides with Police Day, reported state-run news agency MENA.
Amr Imam, a lawyer working with the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre, described the decision as “routine”. He added that when approaching “national occasions, authorities usually pardon prisoners charged with criminal cases and who have served half of their sentences”.
However, those pardoned will not include those charged with crimes or misdemeanours which pose “internal or external threats to state security”, reported MENA. Perpetrators of crimes related to bribery, explosives, stalling transportation or vandalising public institutions will also not be pardoned, or those who have engaged in misconduct while serving time.
The released prisoners will be placed under police surveillance for five years, as per the second paragraph of Article 75 of the Penal Code.
