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Egypt military rulers pardon 230 civilians in army prisons Muslim holiday and pressure from human rights activists leads to Egypt's military rulers releasing more prisoners civilians who faced military trials
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and Egypt's defacto leader, has pardoned 230 people languishing in prisons following military trials. The gesture has been made to coincide with the post-Ramadan Eid holiday. The amnesty is restricted to those with no prior convictions to their name, a list of which has been published in the dailies. Those to be released includes people detained in Cairo at the Balloon Theatre and Tahrir Square on 28 and 29 June following clashes between families of the revolution's martyrs and unknown thugs. The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights issued a statement praising the military council's decision as "a right responseto the demands of the organisation to release all civilians and the defendants." Military trials of civilians has been a major, and ongoing, controversy in Egypt since the military council seized power during the January 25 revolution.
