Cairo: Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi has promised to consider freeing young Egyptians jailed for violating a controversial anti-protest law, in a response to growing calls for presidential amnesty.
Al Sissi made the promise late on Tuesday at a conference for young Egyptians in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm Al Shaikh, state television reported.
“Who of us wants to put his children behind bars?” the Egyptian leader said, addressing the participants in the gathering, the first of its kind since Al Sissi took office in mid-2014.
He said that a committee of some young participants in the conference will be formed to look into the possible release from prison of the youth, who have not been handed criminal sentences.
“I’ll endorse what the youth committee will present in accordance with the law and the constitution,” Al Sissi said without elaborating.
He was commenting on calls raised in connection to young detainees during the conference that started on Tuesday in the presence of 3,000 youth.
Dozens of young Egyptians have been arrested in the past months for violating a controversial law issued in late 2013 that bans street protests without police approval.
Those jailed include prominent activists, who mobilised mass protests for a 2011 uprising that forced long-time president Hosni Mubarak out of power.
The opposition and rights groups have repeatedly called for repealing the law, saying it muzzles freedom of expression.
The government has said that the law is necessary to stem violent street protests pursued by the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood since mid-2013 when Al Sissi, then defence minister, led the army’s ouster of president Mohammad Mursi, a senior official in the Islamist group.
Egypt’s top court is due in December to hear cases demanding invalidating the law.
