Johannesburg – Imprisoned members of Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood (MB) have failed to make the list of over 200 political prisoners pardoned by presidential decree.
Following a decision by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi on Monday to pardon 201 political prisoners for protest-related "offences", Egypt's official gazette on Wednesday released details of the prisoners, including classifying them for the first time ever.
The prisoners were divided into two groups in relation to the mass protests which rocked the North African country in 2013 prior-to and after the military coup which ousted the country’s first-ever democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, paving the way for the inauguration of Sisi.
The two divisions included "sympathisers" and "inciters".
"Sympathisers" is the euphemistic term given to those suspected of supporting the Brotherhood by the Egyptian authorities.
However, no details were given of the prisoners'’ convictions or to which political groups they belonged, Egypt's daily Al Ahram reported.
Member of Parliament, Tarek El Khouly, a member of the presidential committee involved in drawing up the list of those to be pardoned, told parliamentary reporters that prior to submitting the lists to the presidency, the committee eliminated "any person who belonged to the Brotherhood, whether or not he was involved in violence, given their danger to society, and until ideological revisions take place".
"The prisoners on the second list have all received final verdicts in their cases, and are by and large students or individuals with critical health conditions," said Karim El Sakka, who also sits on the committee to review politically-related cases for pardon.
Those pardoned included one woman, 114 prisoners aged 17 to 35, 83 aged 35 to 55, and six over 55.
Their charges included protesting and rioting, joining political organisations critical of the government and "taking part in violent incidents".
The Brotherhood was banned by an Egyptian court in November 2013, labelling it a "terrorist organisation" following an outbreak of violence in the wake of the coup.
El Khouly said that a third list of prisoners was being prepared.
This list would include those still awaiting conviction and others who had been backlogged from the first and second lists.
This is the second round of pardons issued by decree by Sisi following the recommendations of the committee which was formed by the president in October 2016 to evaluate the cases of young people imprisoned for politically-related crimes.
In November 2016, Sisi approved the committee's recommendations to pardon 82 prisoners.
The Egyptian constitution stipulates that the president has the power to issue a pardon or mitigate a final sentence after consulting with the cabinet.
The pardoned have included many jailed under the controversial 2013 protest law, a law international and local human rights groups have slammed.