A court ruling asking the International Criminal Police Organization to arrest Islamists who raided a prison during the 2011 uprising absolves policemen from accusations of being responsible for allowing prisoners to escape that prison, an Interior Ministry official said on Sunday.

This ruling is "historic", Major General Hani Abdel Latif said.

Policemen have suffered from accusations of standing behind the escape of 11,161 prisoners during the uprising for two years, but they are still surprised to be cleared so quickly, Abdel Latif said.

 An Ismailiya misdemeanor court has asked Interpol to arrest the Islamists who raided Wadi al-Natroon Prison during the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

The court asked that fugitives Samy Shehab from Hezbollah, Ayman Nofal and Mohamed al-Hady from Hamas and Ramzy Mowafy from al-Qaeda be captured for investigations into the crimes attributed to them.