CAIRO (Reuters) – An Al Jazeera correspondent has been released from about four years’ pretrial detention in Egypt, his wife said in a tweet on Monday.
Egypt’s Press Syndicate head Khaled Elbalshy confirmed to Reuters that the Qatar-based television network correspondent Hisham Abdel Aziz had returned home on Sunday evening.
Last September, Egyptian authorities also released Al Jazeera journalist Ahmed Al Nagdy from detention as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made his first visit to Doha since the two countries restored relations.
Sisi led the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi in 2013, after which Egypt accused Al Jazeera of being a mouthpiece for the group, which it has banned.
Two other Al Jazeera journalists remain jailed in Egypt, the company says.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain had boycotted Qatar since 2017 over charges it supported terrorism, an accusation that referred to Islamist groups and that Qatar denied.
An agreement to end the row was struck early in 2021, and Qatar and Egypt have moved quickly to rebuild relations.
(Reporting by Farah Saafan; Editing by Nick Macfie)
