Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Wednesday issued a decision offering an amnesty to about 101 Egyptian fishermen accused of spying, the state-run news agency reported.
Taha Osman Al Hussein, state minister and director general at President Bashir’s office, said in a press statement that the presidential pardon coincided with celebrations of the people of Egypt for the opening of the Suez Canal.
“After consulting with the justice minister, al-Bashir issued a decision pardoning 101 Egyptian fishermen who have been held on charges of spying and breaching the regional waters at the Red Sea,” he said.
In April, the Sudanese authorities arrested the Egyptian fishermen inside Sudan’s regional waters and filed law suits against them in accordance with the Sudanese penal code, passports act and sea fisheries’ law.
Previously, a Sudanese court in the Red Sea fined 29 Egyptian fishermen and a captain on charges of violating the Sudanese territorial waters.