The Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated on Saturday that Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed el-Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates, granted a full pardon to 33 Egyptian prisoners. The prisoners had been detained on a variety of criminal charges. Mohamed Abdel Hakam, assistant foreign minister for Consular Affairs and Egyptians Abroad, said that approximately half of the Egyptians imprisoned in the UAE have been pardoned. He explained that the Egyptian embassy in Abu Dhabi was currently finalizing the released prisoners' travel arrangements to Egypt, and expressed his sincere gratitude to Egypt's "sister state, the Arab Emirates, for its good initiatives in this matter." Hakam also stated that the Attorney General's office of the State of New York had notified the Egyptian General Consulate of the need to warn Egyptians seeking to immigrate to the United States against dealing with various fraudulent organizations claiming to help Egyptians with immigration procedures in exchange for large sums of money. Hakam said that among the most notorious of such organizations were the International Immigrants Foundation and the International Professional Association. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
