US Edition Peter Greste, the Australian Al-Jazeera journalist imprisoned in Egypt, was on his back home on Sunday night after the country’s military-backed government finally ended his 400-day jail ordeal.
Mr Greste, who previously worked for the BBC, left Cairo’s Tora prison on what the Egyptian authorities officially described as a “deportation” order to Australia.
“I’m overjoyed,” said his brother, Andrew. “It will take a while to sink in.”
Security officials said that Mr Greste’s colleague, Mohamed Fahmy, would be deported to Canada, where he holds citizenship, within days.
There was no word on the fate of Egyptian freelance producer Baher Mohamed, the last member of the “Al Jazeera Three”, whose incarceration has become a cause celebre for press freedoms.
All three men maintained the charges were baseless, and that they had been used as pawns in a wider political game with Qatar, a staunch backer of the Muslim Brotherhood, and owner of the Al Jazeera network.
The three journalists were sentenced to between seven and ten years in prison last June on charges of aiding Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which won democratic elections in 2012 but was was then overthrown by the military and banned as a “terrorist organisation”. They were also accused of conspiring to broadcast “false news” from Egypt.
The network’s often partisan coverage, particularly that of its Egyptian affiliate station, has been a thorn in the side of Egypt’s military ruler, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, fuelling a poisonous spat between Egypt and Qatar as domestic critics have been arrested in their thousands. But relations started to thaw in December, prompting speculation that Mr
Greste and his colleagues were reaching the end of their ordeal.
“We’re pleased for Peter and his family that they are to be reunited,” Mostefa Souag, acting director general of Al-Jazeera Media Network, said in a statement on Sunday. “We will not rest until Baher and Mohamed also regain their freedom,” he said.
Egyptian officials insisted on Sunday night that Mr Greste had not officially been released, but was being deported to Australia to complete his sentence. However, there is no prospect that he will serve a jail sentence or face trial once home.
The Al Jazeera case has provided Mr Sisi with a serious diplomatic headache, and he has repeatedly said he wished it had never come to trial. In November, he sought to ease international pressure over the case with a decree allowing the deportation of foreign detainees.
Egypt’s regime has led a vicious crackdown against opponents since it came to power in a popularly-backed July 2013 coup, killing hundreds and jailing thousands. The Al Jazeera journalists were among 12 members of the profession to be jailed in Egypt last year.
Mr Mohamed’s family spoke on Sunday night of their fears that international attention will ebb from his case once Mr Greste and Mr Fahmy were deported. “I hope they support us and don’t leave Baher behind,” said Mr Mohamed’s brother, Assem.
James Harding, the director BBC news and current affairs, said: “All journalists will welcome the news that Peter Greste has been released. He was jailed for nothing more than doing his job. All our thoughts must now be with his two colleagues in the hope that they too will shortly be freed.”
Philip Hammond welcomed Mr Greste's release, but voiced concern about other journalists including Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed who remain in jail as well as two Britons Dominic Kane and Sue Turton who were sentenced in absentia to 10 years imprisonment for "falsifying news".
"I call on the Egyptian authorities to review their sentences as a matter of urgency," Mr Hammond said.
"We continue to believe that stability and prosperity in Egypt is dependent on open and inclusive politics and on full respect for the rights contained in the Egyptian constitution.
"I call on the Egyptian government to take further action to ensure the release of other journalists from prison, to release political detainees and to relax restrictions on civil society".