Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has pardoned jailed Al Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, along with 100 prisoners, the presidency and official media reported.
Presidency spokesman Alaa Youssef said the two Al-Jazeera colleagues were among the pardoned group, which also included women activists Sana Seif and Yara Sallam.
Fahmy, Mohamed and their Australian colleague Peter Greste were sentenced in a retrial last month for broadcasting “false” news that harmed Egypt and aiding the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Greste was deported in February through a presidential decree, and his name did not appear on the list of those pardoned.
The pardons came on the eve of the Muslim holidays of Eid, when prisoner releases often take place in Muslim countries.
External Link: Mohamed Fahmy Tweet
Fahmy, who had dropped his Egyptian citizenship to qualify for deportation, is expected to leave for Canada once he is freed.
The pardons also come a day before Mr Sisi planned to head to New York for the 70th session of the UN General Assembly.
In wake of the reports Greste told the ABC Middle East correspondent Sophie McNeill it was “absolutely extraordinary news”, and that he felt overwhelming joy for Fahmy and his wife.
But he said he was concerned that initial reports have not mentioned Mohamed’s name.
Greste was deported back to Australia in February, and called for Mr Sisi to “undo that injustice” after the three were sentenced in August.
“The eyes of the world are on Egypt,” he said at the time.
“It is now up to president Sisi to do what he said he would do from the outset and that is pardon us if we were ever convicted.”
