Family of Canadian-Egyptian journalist request deportation from Egypt

CAIRO – A statement from the family of a Canadian-Egyptian Al-Jazeera journalist, imprisoned in Egypt, says they have requested his deportation and were told by a senior official the process is in its “final stages.”

Three Al-Jazeera English journalists – Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy, Australian Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohammed – have been held for more than a year. Last week a Cairo Court of Cassation ordered a retrial, after a court sentenced Greste and Fahmy to seven years in prison and Mohammed to 10 years last June amid widespread international condemnation. Greste’s family says they have also applied for deportation.

In November Egypt issued a new decree granting President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi the power to deport foreign defendants convicted or accused of crimes.