Egypt’s President Mohammed Mursi has pardoned all those arrested during last year’s popular uprising that ousted the country’s former leader Hosni Mubarak.
A post on the president’s official Facebook page announced an amnesty for deeds “committed with the aim of supporting the revolution”.
The decree could lead to the release of several thousand people.
Mubarak stood down in February last year following an 18-day uprising in which hundreds of protesters died.
He is currently serving life in prison after being found guilty in June of failing to prevent the killings.
The mass protests against the Mubarak regime were fuelled by anger against police brutality.
The pardon applies to all those arrested from the first day of the revolution – 25 January 2011 – until the end of June this year, when the new president took office.
It covers those who are awaiting trial as well those already serving jail sentences. The only exception will be those accused of murder.
Under the decree, the names of those to be pardoned must be published by the attorney general and the military prosecution within one month, state news agency Mena reported.
Mr Mursi was elected in June in the country’s first democratic presidential elections.
The BBC’s Middle East correspondent, Jon Leyne, says several hundred people have already been freed, and it is surprising how long it has taken the president to complete the process.
(BBC News)
