Egypt’s Public Prosecution announced on Monday, the release of the economist, Omar El-Shenety amongst a list of 33 remand detainees, based on the nominations of the Presidential Pardon Committee. The list also included human rights lawyer Youssef Mansour, as well as political activist Ahmed Hassanein.
El-Shenety is a former member of the Wasat Party, a well-known businessman and economist, and has been imprisoned in connection with the case known in the media as the “Hope Cell”, since his arrest and others in June 2019.
His money has been seized, and he has been included in the terrorism list on charges of financing the “Muslim Brotherhood” group.
Several Egyptian parties and rights groups accepted to participate in the Egyptian National Dialogue called for by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi with the aim of mobilizing support for the release of all prisoners of conscience, including politicians, lawyers, and journalists who were arrested for their legitimate work or for expressing their opinions on social media and other peaceful tools.
Egypt has pardoned dozens of detainees in the past several months after the country’s human rights record came under international scrutiny when it hosted the UN COP27 summit in November.
