Overview

• President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s decree also includes five other prisoners, according to a presidential statement reported by state-linked media.
• Lawyer Khaled Ali said the release should follow publication in the gazette, which he expects within days.
• The clemency decision came after the National Council for Human Rights submitted a petition that the presidency ordered officials to review earlier this month.
• A Cairo court recently removed Abd el-Fattah’s name from Egypt’s terrorism list, a step his lawyer says could ease travel restrictions once he is free.
• Family and diplomatic pressure intensified over the past year, including his mother Laila Soueif’s prolonged hunger strike, repeated UK government representations, and UN findings that his detention was arbitrary.