Two Al Jazeera Journalists Released from Prison in Egypt

Egypt has released two imprisoned journalists from Al Jazeera after they were granted a pardon by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. These two were among one hundred prisoners released on Wednesday by the president's order. In addition to Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, the names of two female political activists, Sanaa Seif and Yara Sallam, were also included among those pardoned. Fahmy holds Canadian citizenship, and the release of him and his colleague Baher Mohamed has been welcomed by Al Jazeera and the Canadian government. The president's decision to pardon these prisoners comes after prolonged criticism of his government for detaining opponents and civil activists, although the Egyptian presidency stated that the decision was made in light of the upcoming Eid al-Adha. Shortly after the announcement, Egyptian police delivered the two Al Jazeera journalists, still wearing their blue prison uniforms, to their families in a suburb of Cairo. The trial of the two Al Jazeera journalists concluded in August, where they were sentenced to three years in prison for falsifying news in support of terrorist groups, a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood. Previously, a lower court had sentenced the two journalists to seven years in prison, but an appeals court overturned this ruling due to insufficient evidence from the prosecution and ordered a retrial. Earlier this year, in February, Peter Greste, an Australian journalist from Al Jazeera who was detained alongside these two journalists, was released after 400 days in prison by direct order of the Egyptian president. Greste, who previously worked for the BBC, expressed his happiness for the release of his colleagues in an interview with Al Jazeera. The three Al Jazeera journalists were arrested in December 2013 amid violence and unrest in Egypt, coinciding with the beginning of the crackdown and detention of members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood by el-Sisi's government. According to a report by Agence France-Presse, it appears that most of those pardoned by the Egyptian president's decree are political and civil activists who, according to the presidency, participated in 'attacks on police officers.' The Egyptian government has also faced significant pressure to release political and civil activists like Sanaa Seif and Yara Sallam, both of whom are human rights activists. They were arrested during a small, peaceful protest outside the presidential palace in 2014. Their detention was based on new regulations that deem any unapproved protests illegal, and both were sentenced to three years in prison.