CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has pardoned 712 prisoners, the state news agency MENA said on Wednesday, and security sources said many of those freed were youth jailed for anti-government protests.
A full list of those pardoned was not immediately available.
Since coming to power in 2014, El-Sisi has presided over a sweeping crackdown on Islamist opponents and liberal activists that rights groups say is the worst period of political repression in Egyptian history.
He has issued pardons several times a year, including on major national holidays, often releasing students and young protesters.
Egypt in 2013 passed a law requiring interior ministry permission for any public gathering of more than 10 people, effectively ending the mass protests that helped unseat two presidents in the span of three years beginning in 2011.
El-Sisi is a former military chief who toppled elected Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule. Critics say public dissent continues to be suppressed as matter of policy under El-Sisi.
El-Sisi denies that there are political prisoners in Egypt.
He was sworn in for a second term as Egyptian president on Saturday amid a crackdown on opponents after a landslide victory in a March election from which all serious opponents had withdrawn.
Egyptian President El-Sisi pardons 712 prisoners
Egyptian President El-Sisi pardons 712 prisoners
Iran and US diverge in views on sanctions relief, senior Iranian official to Reuters
- Renewed talks scheduled in early March and could possibly lead to an interim deal
DUBAI: Iran and the United States have differing views over the scope and mechanism to lift sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Sunday, adding that new talks were planned in early March. The official said Tehran could seriously consider a combination of exporting part of its highly enriched uranium (HEU) stockpile, diluting the purity of its HEU and a regional consortium for enriching uranium, but in return Iran’s right to “peacful nuclear enrichment” must be recognized.
“The negotiations continue and the possibility of reaching an interim agreement exists,” the official said. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Friday that he expected to have a draft counterproposal ready within days following nuclear talks with the United States this week, while US President Donald Trump said he was considering limited military strikes.
The senior official said Tehran will not hand over control of its oil and mineral resources but US companies can always participate as contractors in Iran’s oil and gas fields.
