Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has granted clemency to several prisoners, including the renowned activist and prominent figure of the nation’s 2011 uprising, Ahmed Douma, as reported by state TV and confirmed by his legal representatives on Saturday (August 19).
Douma, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison four years ago for participating in riots and assaulting security forces, has been granted a presidential pardon, according to his lawyers.
A member of the presidential pardons committee, attorney Tarek Elawady, stated that the president exercised his “constitutional powers” to pardon a group of inmates, Douma included, as reported by AFP. This development occurs months ahead of the anticipated 2024 presidential election.
Douma, currently 37 years old, was among several prominent activists in Egypt who were incarcerated following a crackdown in 2013, subsequent to the military’s removal of Islamist Mohamed Morsi, who succeeded the deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Renowned human rights lawyer Khaled Ali expressed his anticipation for Douma’s release via social media, revealing that he was waiting outside Cairo’s Badr prison, located on the city’s outskirts, for Douma’s release.
During the announcement of Douma’s verdict, the judge indicated that he was part of a group that unlawfully entered parliament and vandalized a portion of the facility, characterizing their actions as influenced by malevolent intent. Douma was sentenced by a court in 2019 on charges of clashing with security forces within the capital.
The 15-year prison term in 2019 was a reduction from the previous 25-year sentence issued in 2015. The Egyptian appeals court upheld the revised 15-year sentence in 2019, along with a fine of six million Egyptian pounds (equivalent to $372,000 at that time).
Douma, aged 37, stood as one of the prominent activists from the revolution who remained incarcerated, along with British-Egyptian pro-democracy blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, who has been imprisoned for nearly a decade.
As the incumbent president and former military leader who orchestrated Morsi’s removal, al-Sisi has been accused of orchestrating an unyielding crackdown on both pro-democracy advocates and Islamists throughout his tenure.
While the current president has issued pardons to various notable figures in the past year, critics contend that recently detained individuals have taken their places.
According to an AFP report citing Egyptian human rights monitors, officials have released around 1,000 political detainees since April 2022, but have also apprehended nearly 3,000 more.
In the preceding month, Egyptian rights researcher Patrick Zaki and lawyer Mohamed el-Baqer were also granted clemency by President al-Sisi.
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