Egyptian authorities on Monday released prominent Egyptian economist Omar al-Shenety after spending more than four years in pretrial detention on charges of "overthrowing the state", as part of a list of 4 people who have been released.
Egyptian lawyer Tarek al-Awadi, a member of the presidential pardon committee, posted on his X account (formerly Twitter) that "33 of those held in pretrial detention were released today, including Omar al-Shenety, human rights activist Youssef Mansour and Ahmed Hassanein, an online content creator."
Al-Shenety was arrested in June 2019 among eight defendants accused of belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood and running companies that provide financial support for the "overthrow of the state."
A list published by al-Awadhi that includes the names of those released on his Facebook page indicated that their cases between 2019 and 2022 were investigated by the Supreme State Security Prosecution (concerned with national security issues).
According to the law, Egypt's public prosecutor has the authority to release those held in pretrial detention, while the president has the right to pardon all or part of the sentence in the event of a conviction.
On April 24, 2022, the Presidential Pardon Committee was activated in conjunction with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's call to start the first national dialogue since he came to the presidency in 2014.
Since that call, at least a thousand people have been released by judicial decisions or presidential pardons in "cases of opinion and expression," according to unofficial estimates.