Al Jazeera journalists to be freed on bail

monjola sotubo

February 12, 2015 4:31 PM

Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were imprisoned in June 2014 along with their Australian colleague, Peter Greste after they were accused of spreading false news and aiding the Muslim Brotherhood.

A court in Egypt has ordered that two Al Jazeera journalists, being detained in a Cairo prison, be freed on bail.

Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were imprisoned in June 2014 along with their Australian colleague, Peter Greste after they were accused of spreading false news and aiding the Muslim Brotherhood.

Greste was freed and deported on February 1 in accordance with a presidential decree which allows the deportation of jailed foreign nationals to their home countries.

Fahmy has given up his Egyptian citizenship to qualify for deportation to Canada under the same rule as Greste but Mohamed has no foreign passport.

The journalists recently had their conviction overturned on appeal and their case is now being retried.

Fahmy is believed to be a flight risk and such is expected to post 250,000 Egyptian pounds for his freedom, but Mohamed and several students also tried in the case will not pay any fees.

The judge’s decision is believed to have been swayed in the journalists’ favour after Fahmy asked why Greste was free while his colleagues were still in jail.

The journalists have continually maintained their innocence and said that they were only guilty of reporting the news as it was.

monjola sotubo