(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Aljazeera journalist Peter Greste was released from a Cairo jail yesterday and left Egypt for his native Australia after 400 days in prison on charges that included aiding a terrorist group, security officials said.
There was no official word on the fate of his two Aljazeera colleagues - Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian national Baher Mohamed - who were also jailed in the case that provoked an international outcry.
The three were sentenced to seven to 10 years on charges including spreading lies to help a terrorist organisation - a reference to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. One month ago, however, a court ordered their retrial.
A security official said Fahmy was expected to be released from Cairo's Tora prison within days. His fiancée said she hoped he would be free soon and deported to Canada. "His deportation is in its final stages. We are hopeful," Marwa Omara told Reuters.
Canada's foreign ministry welcomed what it called positive developments. "We remain very hopeful that Mr Fahmy's case will be resolved shortly," it said in a statement.
Aljazeera said its campaign to free its journalists from Egypt would not end until all three were released. "We're pleased for Peter and his family that they are to be reunited. It has been an incredible and unjustifiable ordeal for them, and they have coped with incredible dignity," said Mostefa Souag, acting Director General of Aljazeera Network said in a statement.
"We will not rest until Baher and Mohamed also regain their freedom. The Egyptian authorities have it in their power to finish this properly today and that is exactly what they must do," he added.
Baher Mohamed was given an extra three years for possessing a single bullet. If the authorities decide to free him, resolving his case could be more complex because he does not possess a foreign passport.
The Interior Ministry said on its Facebook page that Egypt President Abdel Fatah Al Sisi released Greste under a decree issued in November authorising the president to approve the deportation of foreign prisoners.
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