Prisoner pardons a relief but little more than token gesture

Source:
Amnesty International
Date of source:
23 Sep 2015

Today’s presidential decree granting pardons to 100 people including Al Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed and several unlawfully imprisoned activists including Sana Seif and Yara Sallam is welcome news, but represents little more than a token gesture, said Amnesty International.

The organization said the pardons, made ahead of the Muslim Eid holiday, should be followed by further action to seriously address the appalling human rights record under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, including the intolerance of peaceful dissent and criticism of the authorities.

 

C.Hulsman: Amnesty International campaigns for the release of imprisoned activists and when 100 people are released writes that this is "little more than a token." That gives the impression that in the eyes of Amnesty International Egypt cannot do any good. Whether these activists were in prison lawful or unlawful raises the question about whose law. Probably according to Egypt law they were lawfully imprisoned. The argument is whether such laws should exist or not. Egypt goes through a most difficult period. Political motivated violence continues, tourism does not recover, economy is weak and in these circumstances draconian laws exist that that put activists behind bars. Of course Egypt should deal differently with activists but when can only argue for change if there is also an understanding for why Egyptian authorities react to activism as they do. Please note that understanding is not agreement but one needs to know backgrounds first before arguing for change. It seems that Amnesty International either has too little understanding for Egypt's current situation or is insufficiently interested in understanding the context in which things take place in Egypt. 

 

See also: http://egyptianstreets.com/2015/09/23/egypts-president-sisi-pardons-100-...

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