NewsAlert: Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy released from prison

The state news agency said those pardoned were mostly ailing prisoners and some who had been arrested for violating the countries laws during public protests.

In the wake of the good news, it is still unclear as to whether Greste himself has been granted a pardon, despite the fact he is back in Australia.

After Greste was deported, Fahmy was out on parole briefly pending a February trial date.

“After months spent languishing in prison, we are very pleased to see progress in Fahmy’s case”, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau said. “I still have, as far as I know, a conviction hanging over my head and a criminal record as a convicted terrorist”.

His lawyer confirmed the pardon and said his client is a “professional and innocent journalist”.

Fahmi – a Canadian national who has renounced his Egyptian citizenship – and Mohamed were both slapped with three-year jail terms earlier this month after being convicted of “spreading false news” and having links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi pardoned 100 prisoners today, on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Adha, as he prepares to travel to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly next week.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, freed journalist Baher Mohamed, said he would continue fighting to free other journalists still held in Egyptian prisons.

“CJFE is overjoyed by the pardon of Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed”, the group said in a statement.

Greste told ABC radio he was not included in the pardon, and together with the pan-Arab network is demanding all charges and sentences against its journalists be dropped.

Fahmy and Mohamed, along with colleague Peter Greste, were arrested in Egypt in December 2013.

The long-running trial was entangled in the wider political conflict between Egypt and Qatar, where al-Jazeera is based, following the Egyptian army’s ousting in 2013 of the Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood member.

Following the verdict, Ottawa had formally asked Egypt’s president to pardon Fahmy or allow his deportation to Canada.

Egypt’s Court of Cassation, the country’s highest appeals court, later ordered a retrial, saying the initial proceedings were marred by violations of the journalists’ rights.

The federal government has said it will facilitate Fahmy’s return to Canada.