Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste is free
Al-Jazeera news channel’s Australian journalist Peter Greste listens to the verdict inside the defendants cage during his trial for allegedly supporting the Muslim Brotherhood on June 23, 2014 at the police institute near Cairo’s Tora prison.
CAIRO, Egypt — Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste was freed from an Egyptian prison on Sunday after spending 400 days behind bars. By the evening, he was in the air flying back to his native Australia, according to Egyptian officials.
Greste is one of three journalists working for the Qatar-based channel Al Jazeera English who were arrested on Dec. 29, 2013.
Greste, Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed were given seven to 10 year sentences after a widely denounced trial that featured evidence such as footage of a trotting horse made by Sky News Arabia, a photograph of Greste’s parents and a song by the artist Gotye.
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Greste is thought to have been deported under a new decree that allows the president to deport foreign defendants who have been accused or convicted of crimes.
Greste and Fahmy, a Canadian citizen, applied for deportation earlier this month. Fahmy's family members say they have not yet heard anything about the request, according to the Guardian. Mohamed, an Egyptian national, is ineligible for deportation.
The detained journalists’ case sparked an international uproar and campaign on social media with the hashtag #FreeAJEStaff.
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The Qatar-based channel Al Jazeera has issued a statement calling for the release of its remaining two employees.
“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 Al Jazeera Media Network.
“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.”
The case fueled tensions between Egypt and Qatar, which Egypt accuses of supporting the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood.
Greste’s two brothers would take turns going to Egypt and visiting Peter in jail.
The families of Fahmy and Mohamed both continue to work for release of the two journalists.
According to the Center to Protect Journalists, Egypt is one of the worst jailers of journalists worldwide. As of Dec. 1, 2014, the group had documented detentions of at least 12 members of the press.