The Egyptian authorities released prominent opposition figures March 21 amid calls to free thousands of prisoners to prevent the spread of the coronavirus among inmates.

According to human rights organizations, thousands of prisoners in Egypt are held captive because of their political opinions, but Cairo denies such allegations.

On March 19, the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) — a branch of the Public Prosecution — decided to release 15 opposition activists who had been held on remand for several months. Those included three key opponents of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi: Hassan Nafaa, professor of political sciences at the University of Cairo; Hazem Abdul Azim, former member of Sisi’s presidential electoral campaign in 2014 who later became one of his staunchest critics; and Shadi Ghazali Harb, a doctor who firmly called for democracy in Egypt in the wake of the January 25 Revolution that ousted late President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The SSSP did not clarify why the 15 activists were released, but the decision was made following several calls to reduce overcrowding in prisons as a preemptive measure to face the virus that causes COVID-19.