'Small Step' Toward Justice as Al Jazeera Journalists Released on Conditional Bail

An Egyptian court on Thursday ordered the release of Al Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed on bail.

They are likely to be freed within 48 hours for the first time in 14 months, though it remains unclear whether they will be able to leave the country. Both will face a retrial on February 23. A spokesperson for the network called their conditional release “a small step in the right direction.”

Bail “allows Baher and Mohamed to spend time with their families after 411 days apart,” the spokesperson said.

Fahmy and Baher have been in prison in Cairo since December 2013 after being convicted of aiding the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, spreading false news, and endangering Egypt’s national security, charges which stemmed from their coverage of the Arab Spring uprising that began in 2011. A third jailed Al Jazeera journalist, Peter Greste, was deported to his home country of Australia on February 1 after a hearing at the Court of Cassation earlier this year overturned previous verdicts in the case.

“I don’t understand how a defendant in the same case with the same evidence… is on the beach in Australia,” Fahmy told the court Thursday as he unfurled an Egyptian flag.