DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates pardoned more than 100 Egyptian prisoners yesterday in a move hailed by the Egyptian Ambassador to Abu Dhabi as a gesture that will improve strained relations between the two countries.
Ties between Egypt and the UAE soured after veteran Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak was toppled in 2011. The UAE has voiced distrust of the Muslim Brotherhood that helped propel Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi to power last year.
UAE President H H Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan also paid the outstanding fines for the 103 inmates, state news agency WAM said, but those freed did not include 11 Egyptians detained last year on suspicion of training Islamists how to overthrow governments.
WAM said the pardon “underlines the president’s keenness to offer the released prisoners the opportunity to start a new life and alleviate the suffering of their families”.
The Egyptian Ambassador Tamer Mansour said the decision was “an initiative that is bound to open all paths of good deeds between Egypt and its sister, the UAE”. “It will also remove all the harmful residues that had clung to their historic relations in the previous period,” he added in a statement.
Reuters
