After nine years of sweeping crackdowns on dissent, Egypt is set to launch a carefully choreographed political dialogue.
However, the main Islamist opposition movement is excluded and critics say a parallel move to release prisoners is proceeding too slowly.
The dialogue, announced by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in April will include some moderate opposition factions.
A presidential amnesty committee is processing thousands of requests to free some of those jailed under Sisi’s rule – though the Brotherhood remains firmly excluded from the dialogue, its leaders in prison or exile.
Opposition figures see the speed and extent of prisoner releases as a pivotal test of the dialogue’s potential, and of the chances of any softening in what they describe as the most severe political repression in decades.
