Egypt’s Interior Ministry organizes ceremony for correctional centers’ inmates to celebrate Islamic New Year

CAIRO – 5 August 2022: The Egyptian Ministry of Interior’s social protection sector has organized a religious ceremony for inmates at rehabilitation and correctional centers to celebrate the Islamic New Year.

This comes within the framework of the religious symposiums organized by the ministry for the inmates to correct intellectual misconceptions, a video statement by the ministry read on Friday.

“Religious and educational symposiums come as one of the main tools in the modern punitive system applied by the Ministry of Interior to correct inmates' behavior and intellectual concepts,” the ministry said.

Such symposiums are held regularly to give the opportunity for inmates at correctional centers to inquire about religious topics and raise their religious and cultural awareness in a way that enables them to quickly reintegrate into society after serving their term.

Appearing in the video, Renowned Islamic scholar Ramadan Abdel Moez hailed the ministry’s efforts in organizing these seminars to educate and improve the behavior of inmates.

The Ministry of Interior has repeatedly affirmed keenness to apply modern punitive policies and qualify inmates to re-join the society

The ministry has also granted an exceptional visit to inmates of rehabilitation and correctional centers on the occasion of the New Hijri year 1444 between 31 July until 31 August.

“This comes within the framework of the Ministry of Interior's keenness to uphold human rights values, implement the punitive policy with its modern approach, and provide various aspects of care for inmates,” the ministry said.

The ministry earlier granted an exceptional visit to inmates of rehabilitation and correctional centers on the occasion of the 23 July Revolution from 24-28 July.

Also, correctional centers’ inmates were granted an exceptional visit during the first and second days of the four-day holiday of Islamic Eid Al-Adha.

In July, authorities announced pardoning 1,270 prisoners on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha under the presidential decree no 297 of 2022.

This falls within the framework of the Interior Ministry's keenness on applying modern punitive policies and qualifying inmates to re-join the society, the ministry said.

Thousands of inmates have been pardoned on various national holidays over the past years.