A court in Cairo on Thursday ordered release of anAl-Jazeera journalist, arrested more than two years ago on charges of spreading”false news”.
Mahmoud Hussein’s daughter Zahra Mahmoud Hussein said thecourt freed her father on precautionary measures, Efe news reported.
“The court ordered his release on Tuesday, but theprosecutor’s office appealed the decision and today (Thursday) the release wasconfirmed,” she told the news agency. “I don’t know if he will bereleased tonight (Thursday) or on Saturday, because tomorrow (Friday) is a offday,” she said.
The 52-year-old news producer was arrested on December 23,2016 in Cairo, where he was on vacation. He has been confined since then inEgypt’s Tora Prison under a preventive detention order that has been reneweddespite continuous appeals from his legal defence.
Hussein began working for Doha headquartered Al-Jazeera in2010 as a correspondent in Cairo, a position he held until the closure of itsEgyptian office by a government order in 2013, shortly after President MohamedMorsi was ousted.
After the closure of the Al-Jazeera office in Egypt, hespent a year without work. Later he worked as a correspondent for media abroadand returned to the Qatari channel in Doha.
Egypt snapped diplomatic relations with Qatar in June 2017for its support to the Muslim Brotherhood and sponsoring terrorist groups.Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also made the sameallegations, which were rejected by Doha.
One of the main demands of these four Arab countries is thatQatar shut Al-Jazeera channel.
Hussein is not the only journalist from the media outlet tobe arrested in Egypt. Three other Al-Jazeera journalists were detained inDecember 2013 and sentenced to between seven years and 10 years in prison forthe same charges.
They were subsequently released in 2016.