Egypt deports Al-Jazeera jailed Australian reporter

CAIRO, Feb. 2  (NsNewsWire) — Egypt decided to deport jailed reporter Peter Greste back to his native Australia, Egypt’s state news agency MENA reported on Sunday.

The Foreign Ministry coordinated with the Australian Embassy in Cairo, and Greste was supposed to depart for Sydney this afternoon, the source added, reports Xinhua.

Greste, together with Egyptian Canadian Mohammed Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohammed, all worked for the Doha-based Al-Jazeera English news channel. All three journalists were sentenced to seven years in prison for aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group.

Mohammed received an additional three-year jail term on a separate charge involving weapons possession.

The journalists were arrested during a security raid in a Cairo hotel room from which they were operating in December 2013.

They were accused of spreading false news which tarnished Egypt’s image along with aiding members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

The arrest and verdict drew intense criticism from Western governments and human rights groups.

On Jan. 1, a higher court accepted an appeal filed in the case of the three journalists.

Al-Jazeera’s Cairo offices have been closed since July 3, 2013, when the army removed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi following the huge uprising against his one-year rule.

Cairo accuses Al-Jazeera of spreading distorted news for its pro-Muslim Brotherhood coverage, as well as working against the interests of Egypt