Egypt:  Sisi orders release of prominent former MP and activist

Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi pardoned jailed former Member of Parliament and prominent activist, Zyad Elelaimy, a Presidential Pardon Committee member said on Monday, Reuters reports.

Elelaimy was one of the leading activists during the 2011 uprising which toppled Hosni Mubarak and has been jailed since 2019.

His mother posted on social media that she was on her way to collect him from prison.

Tarek Elkhouly, a member of the Pardon Committee member which was established this year, said Sisi’s decision to release Elelaimy had been made in response to calls from political forces and the Committee. It comes two weeks before Egypt hosts the COP27 climate conference.

Sisi Era – Cartoon [Carlos Latuff/MiddleEastMonitor]

Since April, more than 1,000 people held in pre-trial detention have been freed, and 12 convicted prisoners have been amnestied, according to another Committee member, Tarek Al-Awady.

Egypt’s most prominent activist, Alaa Abd El-Fattah, remains in jail and is more than 200 days into a hunger strike. Thousands of others remain in prison following a crackdown that swept up both Islamists and liberal opposition figures over the past nine years, rights groups say.

Sisi’s supporters say the crackdown was necessary to stabilise Egypt.

Elelaimy was sentenced to five years in prison last year on charges of spreading false news.

He and others also faced separate allegations over the Hope coalition case, in which authorities accused them of being part group funded by the Muslim Brotherhood to incite revolution and commit violence.

Colleagues and activists said those arrests were aimed at preventing the formation of a secular coalition ahead of parliamentary elections in 2020 that were dominated by Sisi’s supporters.

READ: Egypt detains prominent opposition leader over alleged anti-government plot