Al Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed have been freed by an Egyptian court on bail two weeks after their Australian colleague Peter Greste's release.
Fahmy, Mohamed and Greste, all journalists for Al Jazeera, were imprisoned in December 2013 for supporting the banned Muslim Brotherhood, a religious outfit labelled as a terrorist organisation, and for spreading false news, after a sham trial.
Greste was released and deported from Egypt earlier this month after he spent 400 days in detention.
Following his release, there were high hopes for the Canadian-Egyptian Fahmy and later, it turned out that he was forced to denounce his Egyptian citizenship in exchange for freedom.
Fahmy, whose was in a sling, owing to an injury he suffered before the arrest, spoke out of the dock to address the court. He said, "A security official visited me and asked I drop my citizenship because the state wanted to get this case done with, it had become a nightmare".
Judge Hassan Farid ordered that the two men, along with 11 other defendants - most of them students - be freed on bail. Fahmy has been ordered to pay 250,000 Egyptian Pounds ($33,000) and is expected to report to the police, along with Mohamed, daily until their retrial is due to resume on 23 February, reports BBC.
Following the announcement of their releases, Greste, who had promised that he wouldn't rest until the release of his colleagues, posted on Twitter, "CONGRATULATIONS TO @Bahrooz & @MFFahmy11 This is a huge step forward. Not time to declare it over, but at least you get to go home!"
Meanwhile, Mohamed tweeted in excitement, "I AM FREE," to which Greste responded with "@Bahrooz CONGRATULATIONS BAHER!!! I'M CELEBRATING WITH YOU BROTHER"
