67 inmates pardoned on Sinai Liberation anniversary

CAIRO - 30 April 2019: A number of 67 inmates have been pardoned, as per presidential pardon No. 192/2019, coinciding with Sinai Liberation Day Egypt celebrates annually on April 25.

Also, 518 persons have been granted a conditional release.

According to the constitution, the president has the right to issue pardons for convicted prisoners after consulting with the Cabinet.

In October 2016, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi announced the formation of a presidential pardon committee, headed by political thinker, Osama al-Ghazaly Harb, for pardoning detainees with charges pending further investigation.

The Sinai Peninsula was liberated from Israeli occupation following the Egypt-Israel peace treaty signed in Washington in 1979. The treaty was signed by former President Anwar Al-Sadat and then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Israel had occupied Sinai during the Six-Day War in 1967.

Sadat went to war with Israel in October 1973. The October War was fought by a coalition of Arab states, led by Egypt and Syria, against Israel in Sinai and the Golan Heights.