CAIRO // Egypt yesterday began to release people held by the military following a decree last week by the president, Mohammed Morsi.
"Prison authorities have begun releasing the detainees," a security official said.
Mr Morsi, who was sworn in last month as Egypt's first elected civilian president, issued an order on Thursday to pardon 572 people convicted by military tribunals.
Their release comes on a public holiday marking the 1952 military coup that led to the overthrow of the monarchy.
The president had ordered the formation of a committee to review the cases of civilians tried by the military.
A total of 11,879 Egyptians have been detained by the military since last year's uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak, according to figures issued by the committee. Of these, 9,714 have been freed.
Activists and international rights groups have repeatedly called for an end to military trials of civilians.
"International law is crystal-clear on this: no civilian, regardless of the crime, should be tried by a military court," Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said last week.
She urged Mr Morsi to take a "principled human-rights stance and pardon all civilians convicted by military tribunals".
