Undoing a three-year prison sentence that had drawn protests from media groups and other organizations, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has pardoned 100 people, including journalist Mohamed Fahmy of Al Jazeera TV.
"The reported pardons came a day before Sisi plans to head to New York for the 70th session of the U.N. General Assembly," Reuters reports.
A Canadian-Egyptian, Fahmy is one of three Al Jazeera journalists who were sentenced to three years in prison last month, after authorities said they didn't have press licenses and had harmed Egypt; their case stretches back 20 months.
It all began in late 2013, when the trio was arrested and accused of aiding a terrorist organization. In June of 2014, they were sentenced to up to 10 years in prison — but that finding was later overturned.
One of the journalists, Australian Peter Greste, was deported to his home country early this year — but he has still faced legal jeopardy in the case. The fate of the third defendant, Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed, remains in question: As of 8:30 a.m. ET, NPR has confirmed only the pardon of Fahmy.
We'll update this post if news related to the journalists emerges.
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