CAIRO – The wife of Egyptian Al Jazeera journalist Baher Mohamed is pleading for a foreign passport for her husband in hopes it could secure his freedom from prison in Egypt.
Jehan Rashed says she is also collecting a million-signature petition to push for the release of Mohamed, who was arrested in December 2013 along with colleagues Peter Greste of Australia and Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy.
Rashed told The Associated Press on Thursday she is looking to any country that could provide Mohamed with a foreign nationality.
The plea came after Greste was released Sunday after spending 400 days behind bars with two of his colleagues and returned to Australia.
In Canada earlier this week, then foreign minister John Baird said Fahmy, who gave up his Egyptian nationality, could be imminently released but did not provide any detailed timeframe. Fahmy’s fiancee says he relinquished his Egyptian citizenship as a condition of gaining his freedom.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has the power to deport foreigners convicted or accused of crimes.
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