US welcomes presidential decree to pardon Zyad El-Elaimy

CAIRO – 26 October 2022: US State Department spokesperson Ned Price welcomed on Wednesday presidential decree to pardon Zyad El Elaimy.

In a tweet, Price said that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said that progress achieved by Egypt in the human rights sector enhances relations between the two countries.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al Sisi pardoned on Monday politician, former parliamentarian Zyad El Elaimy who was sentenced in 2021 to 5 years in prison for charges of spreading false news.

The decree no. 510 of 2022 for releasing Elaimy comes in response to appeals by political parties and the presidential pardon commission.

The decision is part of the president's efforts to activate the work of the pardon commission.

Egypt has released hundreds of inmates over the past month since President Sisi called for a national dialogue in April, including pretrial detainees and pardoned inmates.

The Presidential Pardon Committee, formed in 2016 and reactivated by Sisi in April, aims to release young prisoners of conscience and reintegrate them into society.

The Egyptian Prosecution’s decisions to release a number of pretrial detainees give further momentum to the National Dialogue, said dialogue coordinator, Diaa Rashwan.

In remarks during his TV program “Masr Jadida” on ETC, Rashwan said the prosecution’s decisions encourage further parties of different orientations to conduct the dialogue.