Egypt’s President Pardons Prisoners Of Revolution

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi Monday pardoned all those arrested during last year’s revolution that ousted the country’s long-ruling leader Hosni Mubarak.

A post on the president’s official Facebook announced an amnesty for deeds “committed with the aim of supporting the revolution.” Thousands of people are expected to be freed following the decree which came 100 days after Morsi took office.

Mubarak is currently serving life in prison after being found guilty in June of failing to prevent the killings during the 18-day uprising which saw deaths of hundreds of anti-government protestors.

All those arrested from the first day of the revolution Jan. 25, 2011, until end of June this year, when the new president took office, are eligible for the presidential pardon. However, those accused of murder will be exempted.

The decree mandates that names of those to be pardoned be published by the attorney general and the military prosecution within a month, state news agency Mena said.

The amnesty was handed down on the eve of the first anniversary of the Maspero massacre in which 27 people, most of them Coptic Christians who were protesting the torching of a church, were killed.