2 Al-Jazeera scribes freed from Egyptian jail

Cairo, Feb 13: Two Al-Jazeera journalists were released Friday from prison after they spent more than one year in jail in Egypt, media reported.

Police freed Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed Friday morning after a court Thursday ordered their release, Xinhua news agency reported citing state-run Al-Ahram news website.

Fahmy, the former Cairo bureau chief of Al-Jazeera, was released on a bail of 250,000 Egyptian pounds ($33,000), while Mohamed, an Al-Jazeera producer, was released without bail.

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

In a court Thursday, Fahmy, waving an Egyptian flag, told the judge he did not want to give up his Egyptian citizenship, but was told to do so to be released.

Fahmy and Mohamed, along with Australian Peter Greste, were arrested in December 2013 and sentenced up to 10 years in prison over charges of aiding the Muslim Brotherhood, the power base of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

On Jan 1, the Court of Cassation, the country's top appeals court, accepted an appeal against the sentences, saying the initial trial failed to prove their links to the outlawed Islamist organisation.

Greste, an Australian, was deported under a new law that allows the deportation of foreign nationals on trial in Egypt.