Egyptian authorities have freed 130 members of an Islamist group after they signed pledges of non-violence, security officials said on Monday. The freed prisoners are all members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad who had been convicted of participating in terrorist and anti-government activity, Reuters reported. Many of them had been held without charge after their prison terms expired.
Those released included Ahmed Youssef, a provincial Jihad leader from Beni Suef, south of Cairo in central Egypt, the officials said.
According to them, the prisoners were set free on Saturday and Sunday, and had all signed pledges to refrain from violence. Egypt has released hundreds of Jihad members since 2006 in a series of batches, a security source said.
