(AFP PHOTO / KHALED DESOUKI)
The Canadian government is following up with the Egyptian government regarding their submitted application for the deportation of Al-Jazeera’s Canadian-Egyptian detained journalist Mohamed Fahmy.
“We were told it will happen sooner than later and before the trial commences,” Fahmy’s fiancée Marwa Omara told Daily News Egypt Tuesday.
The Fahmy family said it was hoping the process can be expedited during the Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird’s visit to Egypt next week.
Baird is expected to push for the release of Fahmy after previously meeting with Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry last month in Bahrain, and pushed for the release of the 40-year-old Fahmy, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported the minister’s office saying on 23 December.
The official Twitter account of Australian Peter Greste also said Tuesday that talks on his deportation were in the process.
The requests are based on a presidential decree that was issued in November, allowing the deportation of foreign defendants and convicts to their home countries.
The two journalists were sentenced to seven years in prison, along with Baher Mohamed, who was sentenced to 10 years. They were charged with aiding a terrorist group, tarnishing Egypt’s image abroad, and threatening Egypt’s national security.
