Egyptian authorities freed three journalists early Sunday, the head of a journalists’ union said, the latest in a string of releases as President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi appears to be reaching out to critics of his administration. Ammer Abdel-Moneim, Hany Greisha and Essam Abdeen walked free from jail after they spent around a year and a half in detention in separate cases. Diaa Rashwan, head of the Journalists’ Union, posted images showing the three journalists wearing white jail uniforms and embracing their families in the street. Also read: Egypt: Ruins of ancient temple for Zeus unearthed in Sinai They were released pending investigations into initial charges of misuse of social media and joining a terrorist group, in an apparent reference to the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt designated the Brotherhood a terrorist organization since 2013. The three have yet to face trial. Their release came a few days after authorities freed 41 detainees — including several prominent writers and activists — who had been held for months also without trial. Long pre-trial detentions have been a major concern for rights groups in recent years. El-Sissi also reactivated a presidential pardon committee and appointed new members. The committee, in charge of reviewing cases of prisoners held for political crimes, was created in 2016 and had been mostly ineffective in recent years. Also read: US, Egypt launch group to prepare for COP27 climate summit On Thursday, authorities released prominent political activist Hossam Monis following a pardon by el-Sissi. Monis was serving a four-year sentence on terror charges that rights advocates deemed baseless. Some independent observers believe the government is trying to reach out to critics in the midst of a grinding economic crisis sparked by the Russian war on Ukraine. Thousands of political prisoners, however, are estimated to remain in Egyptian jails. The Egyptian government has in recent years waged a wide-scale crackdown on dissent, jailing thousands of people, mainly Islamists, but also secular activists involved in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. It has also imprisoned dozens of reporters and occasionally expelled some foreign journalists. It remains among the world’s worst jailers of journalists, along with Turkey and China, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a U.S.-based watchdog.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday ridiculed the critics for their failure to see democracy and development in the country. “I think those who don’t see the development need to check their eye vision,” she said referring to BNP leaders and critics of her government. The prime minister was addressing a discussion on the occasion of the Independence and National Day-2022, joining it virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban here. Bangladesh Awami League organised the discussion at its central office in the city’s Bangabandhu Avenue. Read: Govt working to restore Liberation War spirit: Hasina AL president Hasina, who chaired the discussion, said the critics don’t see the government’s successes in bringing the cent per cent area of the country under electricity coverage, making the country as Digital Bangladesh, construction of Padma Bridge, Metrorail, Karnaphuli tunnel and Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant. Noting that BNP leaders often allege that there is no democracy in the country, she said it is very unfortunate for the nation that it would have to learn democracy from a party that had been founded inside the cantonment by an illegal power grabber Ziaur Rahman. “They’re saying that democracy has been destroyed. What is their definition of democracy?, she asked. “They are now giving lessons about democracy. It’s very unfortunate for the nation.” The prime minister said AL restored democracy and returned the power to the people, which had been detained in the containment and pockets of Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad or in the fringe of Khaleda Zia’s Saree. “Now if BNP leaders don’t see democracy and development, there is nothing to say,” she said, adding that BNP leaders have a quality that they can tell lies in good ways. Hasina questioned why people would vote for BNP when its leader is either a person who embezzled the fund of orphans or a convict in a grenade attack or 10-truck arm haul cases. “The people will not vote for them,” she said. Describing Awami League as a party of the soil and people, she said when it comes in power, the fate of the people gets improved. “Today we’ve fulfilled the commitments we made to the people,” she said. Mentioning that the development of people is her government's main goal, the PM said Bangladesh will go ahead raising its head with the ideology and spirit of the Liberation War. It is our commitment today that we’ll march forward so that the people of Bangladesh would get the dignity as a developed and prosperous nation,” she said. Hasina said now ‘Joy Bangla’ slogan has come back and the history of the Liberation War has been established. “The people wouldn’t need to hear the distorted history anymore,” she said. She said the people can go for Covid tests and take vaccines at free of cost in Bangladesh. But the free test and vaccines were not offered even in many developed countries, she said, adding that 73 per cent of the people have already received vaccines. She said a three-day Covide-19 inoculation drive will be rolled out to provide the vaccine shot from Monday. Read: No one can play foul with Bangladesh:Hasina Focusing on her government’s development activities, Hasina said when her party came in power in 1996, it started providing free houses to homeless families through the Ashrayan project. Some 10 lakh houses have so far been given to homeless families. “Not a single man will remain homeless in Bangladesh in future,” she said. About the electricity generation, the PM said her government has kept the commitment by illuminating every house with electricity as now the country is now able to generate more than 25,000 megawatt electricity a day. She said the government even brought different islands and remote places under the electricity connectivity by supplying power through submarine cable or installing solar panels. Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader gave the introductory speech. Among other AL leaders, its presidium members Begum Matia Chowdhury, Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya and Advocate Qamrul Islam and its joint secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud, organizing secretary BM Mozammel Haque, international affairs secretary Dr Shammi Ahmed spoke at the discussion conducted by AL publicity and publication secretary Dr Abdus Sobhan Golap.

“A disservice to the country.” “Inaccurate disinformation.” “Literally killing people.” For months, the Biden White House refrained from criticizing Republican officials who played down the importance of coronavirus vaccinations or sought to make political hay of the federal government’s all-out effort to drive shots into arms. Not any longer. With the COVID-19 vaccination rate plateauing across the country, the White House is returning fire at those they see as spreading harmful misinformation or fear about the shots. When South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster tried this week to block door-to-door efforts to drive up the vaccination rate in his state, White House press secretary Jen Psaki did not mince words in her reaction. READ: New vibe at White House: Hugs are in; masks are (mostly) out “The failure to provide accurate public health information, including the efficacy of vaccines and the accessibility of them to people across the country, including South Carolina, is literally killing people, so maybe they should consider that,” she said Friday. While 67% of American adults have gotten at least one dose, officials are increasingly worried about vast geographic disparity in vaccination rates, and the emergence of what some experts warn could be two dramatically different realities for the country in the coming months: High vaccine uptake and lower caseloads in more Democratic-leaning parts of the country, and fresh hot spots and the development of dangerous variants in more GOP-leaning areas. In the early months of the administration, the White House largely declined to criticize state and local officials’ handling of their vaccination programs, eager to maintain their buy-in and to prevent the politicization of the lifesaving campaign. The recent change in tone comes after some GOP officials criticized President Joe Biden for calling for a door-to-door campaign to spread information about the safety and efficacy of vaccines in hopes it would encourage more people to get vaccinated. “Now we need to go to community-by-community, neighborhood-by-neighborhood, and oftentimes, door-to-door — literally knocking on doors — to get help to the remaining people” who need to be vaccinated, Biden said Tuesday. The grassroots component of the vaccination campaign has been in operation since April, when supplies of shots began outpacing demand. It was outlined and funded by Congress in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill passed in March and overwhelmingly is carried out by local officials and private sector workers and volunteers. READ: White House, Kremlin aim for Biden-Putin summit in Geneva But some in the GOP saw a political opening, catering to the party’s small-government roots and libertarian wing. “The Biden Administration wants to knock on your door to see if you’re vaccinated,” tweeted Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. “What’s next? Knocking on your door to see if you own a gun?”McMaster asked his state’s health department to bar state and local health groups from “the use of the Biden Administration’s ‘targeted’ ‘door to door’ tactics.” “A South Carolinian’s decision to get vaccinated is a personal one for them to make and not the government’s,” McMaster wrote in a letter to the department. “Enticing, coercing, intimidating, mandating, or pressuring anyone to take the vaccine is a bad policy which will deteriorate the public’s trust and confidence in the State’s vaccination efforts.” In Missouri, meanwhile, GOP Gov. Mike Parson tweeted: “I have directed our health department to let the federal government know that sending government employees or agents door-to-door to compel vaccination would NOT be an effective OR a welcome strategy in Missouri!” Earlier in the week, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sent a letter to Biden condemning the new strategy. For the usually reserved Biden White House, which has long harbored private frustrations about some states’ laggard vaccination programs but refused to condemn them publicly for fear of playing up political divides in public health, it was a bridge too far. “For those individuals, organizations that are feeding misinformation and trying to mischaracterize this type of trusted-messenger work, I believe you are doing a disservice to the country and to the doctors, the faith leaders, community leaders and others who are working to get people vaccinated, save lives and help end this pandemic,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said Thursday. Months ago, the Biden White House refrained from responding when officials criticized its vaccine allocation strategy of sending more doses directly to pharmacies instead of through state health departments after the former strategy proved more effective. It largely kept quiet as it watched officials sow fears of vaccine “passports” and assiduously avoided engaging publicly with fringe lawmakers who promoted vaccine skepticism. The new public expression of frustration comes amid lingering disbelief that tens of millions of Americans continue to refuse to get vaccinated, needlessly extending the pandemic and costing lives, as government health officials emphasize that nearly all serious cases and deaths are now preventable. White House officials are quick to point out that their criticism is not related to the officials’ political affiliation but to their rhetoric. They credit effective communication and leadership on the vaccines by GOP officials including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. But they continue to be concerned that some GOP officials are seeking to boost their own fortunes by feeding into doubts about the vaccination. Psaki on Thursday rebutted some allegations about the door-knocking program, noting that in most cases: “They are not members of the government. They are not federal government employees. They are volunteers. They are clergy. They are trusted voices in communities who are playing this role and door knocking.” Acknowledging the rhetoric has been “a bit frustrating to us,” she also noted that there are indications the door-knocking has helped promote shots in areas lagging behind the rest of the country. “Alabama: The adult vaccination rate increased by 3.9%; 149,000 additional adults got their first dose in June,” she said, adding that Florida saw an increase of 4.4% and Georgia of 3.5%. READ: New vibe at White House: Hugs are in; masks are (mostly) out “This is important work that’s leading to more vaccinations,” said Zients, “and it’s done by people who care about the health of their family, friends and neighbors.”