Al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste is released from Egyptian prison

 
Deported: Al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste
Standard Reporter2 February 2015

Al-Jazeera reporter Peter Greste has been released from a Cairo jail and is flying to Cyprus.

The Australian journalist spent more than a year behind bars in Egypt after he was accused of collaborating with the banned Muslin Brotherhood after the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Mohammed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohammed were sentenced to at least seven years in prison on terrorism-related charges last year in a trial described as a sham by rights groups.

The three men said they were reporting the news.

The release of Greste, 49, who also holds Latvian nationality, was welcomed by Al-Jazeera and Amnesty International, but both said the fate of the other journalists must not be forgotten.

A Cairo airport official said Greste is on an EgyptAir flight to Larnaca, Cyprus that took off shortly after 4pm today.

An Egyptian prison official and the nation's official news agency said Greste was released following a presidential "approval." The official and an Interior Ministry statement said his release was an implementation of the new deportation law passed last year.

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, welcomed the news of Greste's release but said "nothing can make up for his ordeal."

"It is vital that in the celebratory fanfare surrounding his deportation the world does not forget the continuing ordeal of Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy, who remain behind bars at Tora prison in Cairo."

Acting Al-Jazeera Director General Mostefa Souag says the Qatar-based network "will not rest until Baher and Mohamed also regain their freedom."

According to a law passed late last year, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has the power to deport foreign defendants or convicts if it's considered to be in the interest of national security. The law was seen as providing a potential legal instrument with which to free the journalists.

El-Sissi had repeatedly said he wants to end the case, which has prompted a storm of international criticism.

Greste had only been in Egypt for weeks when he was detained.

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