Egypt's Interior Ministry has released 351 prisoners upon an earlier presidential pardon on the occasion of the Sinai Liberation Day, according to a Friday statement. The pardon includes the release of 85 prisoners and 266 others on probation in accordance with the decree No 192 of 2019. The ministry formed a committee to check the files of prisoners across the country and decide who deserve the pardon, the ministry added. Meanwhile, the Interior Minister Mahmoud Tawfik declared exceptional visits to prisoners nationwide on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr on Tuesday, the ministry added. The exceptional visits will be allowed in the first day of the Eid and the day before. If the families of inmates could not visit their relatives in this period, they can visit them at any time after the Eid and it will not be counted from their regular visits. Earlier in May, the ministry released 3,094 prisoners on the occasion of Sinai Liberation Day and it also granted conditional pardons to 346 prisoners. Meanwhile, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi issued a decree also in May to pardon 560 prisoners, including young people and prisoners with health problems. Prominent journalist Abdel Halim Qandil was among those pardoned.
