CAIRO, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Interior Ministry announced on Saturday that 3,778 inmates were pardoned and 233 released on the occasion of the 38th anniversary of Sinai Liberation Day which falls on April 25.

The move came in accordance with a recent presidential decree, the ministry said in a statement.

The step is part of the ministry's efforts to implement a modern concept of penal policy, provide inmates with all means of welfare and apply the procedures set for releasing rehabilitated convicts, the ministry said.

The Sinai Liberation Day marks the 1982 withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the Sinai Peninsula after the Camp David peace agreement of 1979.

It has been a custom for Egyptian presidents to pardon prisoners, mainly those who have spent more than half of their terms as well as patients and the elderly, on national and significant religious occasions.