CAIRO – 1 May 2023: The Egyptian authorities released on Monday the long-held Al-Jazeera journalist, Hesham Abdel Aziz, and journalist Raouf Ebeid from pretrial detention.
In a statement, Egypt’s Journalists Syndicate welcomed the release of Ebeid and Abdel Aziz, hoping that such step paves the way for the release of the rest of the detained journalists.
The syndicate also praised the decision to remove the ban on Darb news website only few days ahead of the National Dialogue, calling for lifting the ban on the other banned websites.
“These are considered demands by the syndicate to launch press freedoms and develop the legislations regulating the press work,” the syndicate said, adding that these demands will be introduced to the National Dialogue.
The syndicate said it hopes the National Dialogue will result in the release of the remaining journalists held in pretrial detention, lifting the ban on the blocked websites, and ending the longstanding pretrial detention file.
The syndicate also hopes that the National Dialogue will result in the issuance of a law to prevent imprisonment in the publishing cases.
More than 1,000 pretrial detainees have been released and several convicts received presidential pardons since President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi activated the Presidential Pardon Committee and launched the National Dialogue in April 2022.
The Presidential Pardon Committee, formed in 2016, aims to release young prisoners of conscience and reintegrate them into society.
The committee receives pardon requests via many avenues, including through the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) and the human rights committees of the House of Representatives and Senate.
In addition, the committee receives pardon requests through the National Youth Conference website.
Be Social
Comments
Leave a Comment