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Journalist Mohamed Fahmy regains Egyptian citizenship

Mohamed Fahmy, a former Al-Jazeera journalist who was released from prison in Egypt last month, is shown during and interview with The Canadian Press in Ottawa Monday, November 9, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand

TORONTO – A Canadian journalist who spent almost two years jailed in Egypt said Friday that Egyptian authorities have restored the citizenship he renounced in order to win his release.

Mohamed Fahmy, a former Al-Jazeera journalist released last year after receiving a pardon from Egypt’s president, was a dual citizen but renounced his Egyptian citizenship late in 2014 after being asked to do as a condition of his release.

He says he never wanted to do that.

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READ MORE: Feds working to help Canadian academic reported jailed in Iran

Fahmy was arrested in 2013 with two Al-Jazeera English colleagues.

In a case that was widely condemned, he was sentenced to three years in prison in a retrial for airing what a court described as “false news” and coverage biased in favour of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood.

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Fahmy said he called government officials and they confirmed he has his citizenship back.

WATCH: Egyptian-Canadian Journalist Mohamed Fahmy speaks in Halifax about the over 400 days he spent in a maximum security prison
Click to play video: 'Tales from inside an Egyptian prison'
Tales from inside an Egyptian prison

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