CAIRO: Reviewing the legal status of youth prisoners will continue so that the innocent ones are acquitted, said President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi Wednesday.
Speaking at the “Egyptian Family Iftar” held Wednesday, Sisi said that “no one was hoping that there will be detainees, but Egypt experiences conditions and circumstances that had led to this.”
Sisi delivers speech during the “Egyptian Family Iftar”
On June 17, Sisi pardoned 165 prisoners, convicted of breaching the 2013 protest law, ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, in which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.
“Four groups of imprisoned youths were released over the past year,” read a Wednesday statement by the Presidency media office, adding that Sisi noted “these procedures are not enough, and reviewing youth prisoners’ legal status will continue.”
Sisi greets some of sheikhs Sinai during the “Egyptian Family Iftar”
Public figures, heads of political parties, intellectuals, senior leaders of Sinai tribes, Nubia and Marsa Matrouh, as well as representatives of laborers, farmers, youth and women were present during the Iftar (meal to beak fasting.)
During his speech, Sisi assured that the parliamentary elections were delayed per the decision of the Supreme Constitutional Court, and that they will be held before the end of this year. He urged citizens for “good choice” of their representatives in the coming parliament.
Photo shows president Sisi with numbers of national and political figures
The new Suez Canal Project, scheduled to be inaugurated on August 6 along with the improvement in electricity services are among the achievements that Sisi discussed Wednesday. He also said “[We are] not turning back to pre-January 25, 2011 conditions,” according to the statement.
The statement quoted Sisi as addressing Sinai residents and youth, calling on them to “participate in reconstruction and development projects that will take place in Sinai.”
In his word, Sisi stressed the importance of Egyptians’ “national line-up” and the “discarding of disputes and any calls for division” during the current phase.