The Cairo Criminal Court decided Thursday to release all Al-Jazeera defendants pending their retrial, which has been postponed to 23 February, Egyptian state-media reported. Mohamed Fahmy is to pay 270,000 EGP for bail while all the defendants are banned from travelling.
"We were shocked to hear about a retrial for Fahmy, especially that his deteriorated health condition required immediate treatment," Marwa Omara told Daily News Egypt. "We ask that the same law that applied to Peter Greste be applied on Fahmy. They are both foreigners and equal in rights. We ask for justice."
The Al-Jazeera journalists were arrested December 2013 and accused of conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood against Egypt. They were sentenced to seven to 10 years prison time last June.
While Australian Journalist Peter Greste has been released and deported, the remaining journalists remained behind bars, including Fahmy who had given up his Egyptian nationality.
