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Egypt court frees two Al-Jazeera journalists

Xinhua, February 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

An Egyptian court on Thursday ordered the release of Al-Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, though charges against the two, including aiding a terrorist group, have yet to be dismissed, state media reported.

Fahmy, who served as Al-Jazeera's Cairo bureau chief, was released on a 250,000 Egyptian pound (33,000 U.S. dollars) bail.

Mohamed, an Al-Jazeera producer with Egyptian citizenship, was released with no bail.

On Feb. 3, Fahmy renounced his Egyptian citizenship and kept the Canadian one, to pave the way for his deportation.

In court on Thursday, Fahmy, waving an Egyptian flag, told the judge he didn't want to give up his Egyptian citizenship, but was told to do so to be released.

The Court of Cassation, the country's top appeals court, on Jan. 1 accepted an appeal against the sentence, ranging from seven to 10 years, handed to three Al-Jazeera journalists, saying the initial trial failed to prove their links to the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been designated as a terrorist group.

The third Al-Jazeera journalist, Peter Greste, an Australian, was deported under a new law that allows the deportation of foreign nationals on trial in Egypt.

The three were arrested in December 2013 on charges of providing material support to the Muslim Brotherhood, and "producing fabricated coverage of events in Egypt" to support its aims. Endit