Egypt releases activist Sherif Al-Rouby

Egypt has released a well known-activist and leading member of the pro-democracy 'April 6th' rights movement that helped to prompt the nation’s uprising in 2011.

According to his lawyer, Sherif Al-Rouby was among several activists freed on Monday, a move he called ‘a positive development in… respect for rights and freedoms’.

Authorities on Monday also freed El-Sayed Moshagheb and Nermin Hussein, another person involved in the April 6 movement.

Al-Rouby was first detained in 2016 on fake news and terrorism charges. He has spent the majority of the past dcade behind bars.

When the country’s president re established the pardons committee four years ago, Al-Rouby was one of a string of high profile released. It was a move portrayed by the government as an overture towards its opposition.

However, authorities detained him three months later and he then remained in pre-trial detention.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights alleges he was subjected to medical negligence during his time in prison. Cairo has long come under fire for its human rights record, including detaining what activists refer to as political prisoners.