president Sisi pardons 424 prisoners to mark Eid holiday

Egyptian presidents have traditionally pardoned groups of prisoners on national and religious holidays

Egyptian Prisoners released on Friday July 17, 2015 follwoing a presidential decree on the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr

Egypt's interior ministry released 424 pardoned prisoners on Friday and also conditionally released 101 others, state news as reported.

On Sunday President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi issued a decree pardoning the prisoners to mark both the occasion of Eid Al-Fitr, which begins on Friday, and the 63rd anniversary of the 1952 revolution on 26 July.  

Presidential spokesperson Alaa Youssef had said that those eligible for the pardon would include inmates who had served 15 years in jail prior to 25 January 2015. The pardon also includes prisoners who have served half of their prison terms, if those terms are longer than six months. 

Pardoned prisoners will be on parole for five years, under the terms of the Egyptian penal code.

Prisoners released conditionally will be on parole for the entirety of the remainder of their sentence.

Prisoners who have committed certain crimes were ineligible for pardon, including felonies and misdemeanours that harm the government internally or externally, and crimes related to explosives, bribes, forgery, obstructing traffic, possessing weapons and ammunition, drugs, and illegal profiteering. 

Egyptian presidents have traditionally pardoned groups of prisoners on national and religious holidays.

Egypt : More policewomen to combat sexual harassment in Eid

Women are urged to report sexual harassers to police during the Eid festival

An Egyptian policewoman in the Metro

Minister of Interior Magdy Abdel-Ghafar has ordered policewomen to increase their public presence during Eid Al-Fitr celebrations to combat sexual harassment, Police General Abu Bakr Abdel-Karim, the minister's aide for public relations and media, has said.

Abu Bakr urged women to report sexual harassers to police, during a phone interview with Al-Mehawar TV channel on Thursday.

A growing problem in Egypt in the past 10 years, sexual harassment increases during the Eid season. 

Eid Al-Fitr will start in Egypt on Friday and will continue for another two days.

An Anti-Harassment law was adopted in 2014. It imposes jail terms of no less than six months and/or fines of LE3,000 to LE5,000 ($419 to 700) on those who are found guilty of sexual harassment in public or private areas. Harassment is defined as gestures or words or any modern means of communication, or any other action that carries sexual or pornographic hints.

Out of hundreds of women surveyed, more than 99 percent across seven of the country's 27 governorates reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment, ranging from minor harassment to rape, according to an April 2013 report by the United Nations along with Egypt's Demographic Centre and the National Planning Institute.