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Detained Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy gives up Egyptian citizenship

WATCH: Vassy Kapelos reports on the still-evolving situation for jailed Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy.

CAIRO – The fiancee of an Egyptian-Canadian journalist imprisoned for more than a year in Cairo says he has relinquished his Egyptian citizenship.

She says Egyptian authorities essentially made freedom for Mohamed Fahmy conditional on doing so.

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Marwa Omara tells The Canadian Press that it was a very difficult decision for him because Fahmy is a “proud Egyptian who comes from a family of military servicemen.”

TIMELINE: Egypt’s jailing of 3 Al-Jazeera English journalists

She says authorities have told him he can return as a tourist.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Monday that Fahmy’s release was “imminent,” but declined to provide any more details.

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Fahmy and two Al Jazeera colleagues – Australian journalist Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohamed – were arrested in December 2013 and later convicted of terror charges.

Greste was freed on Sunday.

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