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Al-Jazeera journalist freed

June 18, 2014

An Al-Jazeera journalist who was detained in Egypt without charges for 10 months has been freed from custody in Egypt. Abdullah Elshamy, who has been on hunger strike since January, was released due to health concerns.

https://p.dw.com/p/1CKp8
Al-Jazeera's Egyptian journalist Abdullah Elshamy, center, appears in a defendants' cage along with several other defendants in a courthouse during a trial on terror charges in Cairo. Egypt¿s Prosecutor General ordered release of Al-Jazeera journalist who has been on hunger strike for more than 100 days to protest his prolonged detention without trial. (AP Photo/Hamada Elrasam, File)
Image: picture-alliance/AP

Elshamy, whose five-month hunger strike was staged as a response to his detention, was described as looking frail as he left a police station in the Nasr City neighborhood on Tuesday evening.

Elshamy's family told the AFP news agency in May that the 26-year-old had shed 40 kilograms (88 pounds) since he began the hunger strike. Egypt's prosecutor general announced on Monday that Elshamy (pictured, center, during a court appearance) would be released, citing health concerns.

In a statement issued shortly after Elshamy's release, Al-Jazeera expressed its "relief."

"Abdullah has been through a terrible ordeal for over ten months," said the statement. "He will want to spend time with his family and recuperate." The network added that it: "looked forward to seeing him back in action, doing the vital job of journalism that he so clearly loves."

Cairo irked by coverage

Elshamy, who was working for the Arabic service of the Qatar-based news organization, was arrested on August 14 last year, as police dispersed supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Egyptian officials have accused the network of supporting the Brotherhood, something that Al-Jazeera emphatically denies. Military installed authorities in Cairo have been annoyed by coverage of the Egyptian crackdown on protesters, in which some 1,400 people have lost their lives and at least 15,000 have been detained.

Three other Al-Jazeera journalists are still detained in Egypt on terrorism-related charges, having been arrested on December 29 last year.

The network's Cairo bureau chief, Mohammed Fahmy; former BBC journalist Peter Greste and Egyptian reporter Baher Mahmoud are accused of harming Egypt's national interests by spreading false news and assisting or belonging to a terrorist organization.

rc/crh (AP, AFP)