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BREAKING: Egypt court releases all Al-Jazeera case defendants pending retrial Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed released on bail along with other defendants in the case
Two Al-Jazeera journalists, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, were released on bail on Thursday by a Cairo criminal court after spending over a year in prison. The court postponed the first session in a retrial of the journalists and a number of other defendants to 23 February and ordered the release of all defendants pending trial. All the defendants were released without paying bail costs except for Fahmy who was ordered to pay $33,000. Supporters in the court cheered following the announcement of the releases. The session was attended by the families of the defendants as well as scores of international and local journalists. Three Al-Jazeera journalists – Australian Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed – were convicted last year on charges of spreading false news and aiding the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Earlier this month Greste was released and deported to his native country, under the provisions of a newly issued law allowing foreign nationals to be deported to serve their sentence or be retried in their own country. Eighteen defendants in the case, including the three journalists, were sentenced in June 2014 to jail terms ranging from seven to 10 years. Eleven were tried in absentia. In January 2014, the Court of Cassation overturned the sentences and ordered a retrial. Fahmy, an Egyptian-Canadian, recently renounced his Egyptian nationality in order to qualify for treatment similar to that received by Greste. Fahmy's lawyers and advocates have been lobbying the Egyptian authorities for his release. More to follow... http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/122866.aspx