Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has pardoned jailed former member of parliament and prominent activist Zyad El-Elaimy.
Zyad El-Elaimy was jailed in 2020 for allegedly spreading fake news. Parliamentarian and presidential pardon committee member Tarek Elkhouly said on Monday.
El-Elaimy was one of the leading Egyptian activists during the 2011 uprising which toppled Hosni Mubarak and had been jailed since 2019 on charges of spreading false news after a lawyer reported him to prosecutors citing an interview he had given to the BBC.
El-Elaimy maintains that he was fighting for “social justice” and “human dignity”. The move to pardon him comes just weeks before Egypt hosts the COP27 climate summit.
El-Elaimy’s release is the latest in a recent string of political prisoners that Egypt has pardoned. Lately, Egypt has tried to improve its human rights rating by extending olive branches to political critics.
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