Egyptian Presidency Pardons Former MP Zyad Elelaimy

Former Egyptian lawmaker and political activist Zyad Elelaimy released following the presidential pardon decree. (Facebook)
Former Egyptian lawmaker and political activist Zyad Elelaimy released following the presidential pardon decree. (Facebook)
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Egyptian Presidency Pardons Former MP Zyad Elelaimy

Former Egyptian lawmaker and political activist Zyad Elelaimy released following the presidential pardon decree. (Facebook)
Former Egyptian lawmaker and political activist Zyad Elelaimy released following the presidential pardon decree. (Facebook)

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi issued on Monday a decree pardoning the Egyptian political activist and former lawmaker, Zyad Elelaimy.

Sisi’s decision to release Elelaimy came in response to calls from political forces and the pardon committee. It also comes in line with the President’s call to activate the work of the presidential pardon committee, Egypt’s official news agency MENA reported.

Elelaimy was sentenced last year to five years in prison on charges of spreading false news.

He and others were also charged over the "Hope coalition case", in which they were accused of being part of a group funded by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

On April 26, Sisi called for reactivating the Presidential Pardon Committee and expanding its work base in cooperation with the relevant agencies and civil society organizations.

Earlier this week, the Committee announced the release of more than 1,000 prisoners since April 26.



UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Agency Says Israel Shuts 4 Schools in East Jerusalem

A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
A boy stands outside the gate of the Kalandia vocational training center (KTC), run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which was raided by Israeli forces earlier at the Qalandiya camp for Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by UN officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the UN buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a UN facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”