Peter Greste’s Al Jazeera colleague ‘pardoned’
Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has reportedly pardoned Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy, who was facing three years in prison on charges of aiding the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Fahmy and his colleagues, Australian Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohamed were sentenced for broadcasting “false” news that harmed Egypt in a retrial last month.
Fahmy, a Canadian citizen, was included on a list of 100 prisoners pardoned by Mr Sisi on Wednesday, but Mr Mohamed was not on the list.
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“Journalists shouldn’t be behind bars. It’s wrong,” Mohamed told the ABC from court in February.
Despite the sentence, Greste avoided jail time after being deported in February, while his two colleagues were immediately taken to prison.
The Australian journalist 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.”
The pardon came a day before Mr Sisi planned to head to New York for the 70th session of the UN General Assembly.
Prominent activists Yara Sallam and Sanaa Seif are among those pardoned, according to MENA.