Peter Greste’s colleagues journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed have been released from jail after 400 days on bail.
A Cairo court has released Al Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed after more than 400 days in jail, but the court said the case against them was still pending.
Fahmy, who is a naturalised Canadian citizen who gave up his Egyptian citizenship, was released on bail of 250,000 Egyptian pounds ($32,765). Mohamed, who has only Egyptian citizenship, was released without bail.
Judge Hassan Farid said the next hearing would be on February 23.
Fahmy’s fiancee, Marwa Omara, weeping and hugging journalists in the courtroom, said: “Thank you Egypt for doing the right thing… I am happy. For the last year I haven’t been able to sleep.”
Mohamed said on his Twitter account, @Bahrooz: “I AM FREE”
Head of newsgathering at Al-Jazeera English, Heather Allan, said just minutes after the news of their release: “We are very grateful. This is a great, great day for us and we just hope that … the whole thing is thrown out.”
The pair had been in jail for 411 days but have been released from prison pending their retrial for allegedly supporting the banned Muslim Brotherhood.
The court had earlier heard Fahmy’s defence demanding he be freed like his Australian colleague Peter Greste.
Fahmy and Egyptian Mohamed appeared in white prison uniforms before the court in Cairo after Greste was freed and sent home earlier this month.
Related content: Peter Greste’s first joyful tweet.
Greste himself was on the judge’s roll call of defendants at the start of the trial.
“He’s not here sir,” responded a police officer when the judge called out his name.
Greste could be tried in absentia, although he was deported under a presidential decree that technically ended his trial in Egypt.
The court may simply drop the charges against him.
The three journalists had been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison but an appeals court ordered a retrial saying the prosecution had failed to prove its case.
They had been charged with aiding the banned Muslim Brotherhood in their coverage and spreading false news about the government’s deadly crackdown on the Islamists.
Their arrests and continued detentions sparked widespread condemnation and calls for their release led by Washington and the United Nations.
The journalists were among 20 defendants initially tried.
Of the rest, 12 were Egyptians found guilty of belonging to a “terrorist organisation”.
Two defendants were acquitted, while the other three – also foreigners – were convicted in absentia.
The journalists’ initial trial came against the backdrop of strained ties between Egypt and Qatar, which supported ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
The Islamist leader was toppled by then army chief Abdel Fatah al-Sisi in July 2013, before Mr Sisi was himself elected president.
While Fahmy may still be deported – although that appears less likely once the trial starts – Mohamed’s only hope is for an acquittal.
Mr Sisi’s office has said the president will not consider a pardon before the courts have finished their work.
The case has been a major source of embarrassment for Mr Sisi as he seeks to shore up international support following a widely condemned crackdown on the opposition.
Mr Sisi passed a law by decree last year allowing foreigners to be deported to their home countries to stand trial or serve out their sentences.
Mohamed’s wife Jihan Rashid said the family is “paying the price for being Egyptian”.
This article originally appeared on ABC and has been republished with full permission.