CAIRO, June 23 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi issued on Friday a decree pardoning 502 people sentenced in cases related to breaching protest and gathering law, official MENA news agency reported.
Sisi's move came in response to a recent national youth conference where he ordered formation of a youth committee to study the cases of young prisoners in various controversial cases mostly related to protests and opinions.
The list included 25 females and a large number of young people, MENA added.
According to Article 155 of the Egyptian constitution, the Egyptian president has the right to issue pardons for convicted prisoners after consulting the cabinet.
In March, some 203 people, mostly youth, were pardoned by another president decree.
It has been a custom during national and religious occasions that presidents in Egypt pardon prisoners, mainly those who spent more than half of their terms as well as patients and the elderly.
President Sisi ordered the pardoned people to be freed before the fast-breaking feast that the Muslims would mark on Sunday.
