CAIRO: Journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, and activists Sana Seif and Yara Sallam are among 100 pardoned per a Wednesday presidential decree by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.
The two journalists, part of the case known as the “Mariott Cell Case” in local media,were recently sentenced to three years in prison for spreading false news while working for Al Jazeera. Their Australian colleague Peter Greste was deported in February per a presidential decree, yet was still sentenced in absentia in early September. Shortly after the verdict, he told The Cairo Post that he would seek a pardon on all charges.
Seif and Sallam were among demonstrators arrested in an anti-Protest Law assembly outside Ittihadiya Palace in November 2013.
Initially sentenced to three years in October 2014, their prison term was appealed and reduced to two years in December of that year.
Further details to follow.