Sun 07 February 2021:
Egypt has released Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein after more than four years in detention without formal charges or trial.
Hussein, an Egyptian national held under preventive detention since December 2016, was released from jail on Saturday.
The 54-year-old Egyptian national was released on Thursday from a Cairo prison, a security source and his daughter Azzahra Hussein confirmed to AFP, but bail conditions at a police station in southern Cairo were still being finalised.
“His father died before witnessing this moment, he was waiting for it for a long time,” Hussein’s mother told AFP before her son’s arrival.
Clutching a necklace with a photo of Hussein on it, she was surrounded by throngs of relatives and supporters who had set up colourful lights to celebrate his return.
In a statement, Mostefa Souag, acting director general of the network, said the release of Hussein was “a moment of truth and an inspiring milestone towards press freedom”.
“Al Jazeera Media Network welcomes the news of Mahmoud’s freedom and believes that no journalist should ever be subjected to what Mahmoud has suffered for the past four years for merely carrying out his profession.
مات والده ولم يدرك هذه اللحظة.. بكاء والدة الزميل #محمود_حسين لحظة لقائها به بعد 4 سنوات من اعتقال دون جرم أو محاكمة pic.twitter.com/qJJ7QuIrPM
— الجزيرة مصر (@AJA_Egypt) February 6, 2021
“Today, we are pleased he is finally reunited with his family, after being robbed four years from his life and deprived of his fundamental rights. We wish Mahmoud a speedy recovery and hope he will be able to overcome this past ordeal and start a new chapter in his distinguished career.”
Earlier on Saturday, Hussein’s daughter Az-Zahraa posted a message on Facebook saying, “Thank God the decision to release Baba has been implemented.
“… Today, Baba is in his house. Thankfully.”
Neighbours handed out drinks while children lit fireworks as women clapped and ululated. Others rushed to hug him in the small village on the outskirts of Cairo.
Qatar’s Al Jazeera — which had run a daily campaign calling for his liberation — had repeatedly said he was being held “without formal charges nor trial”.
According to Egyptian law, detainees can be held in pre-trial detention for up to two years, but authorities regularly prolong the periods.
A father of nine, Hussein has decades of experience in reporting for Arabic-language news channels. After years of freelance work with Al Jazeera Arabic, Hussein joined the network full-time in 2010, first in Cairo, later in Doha.
The 54-year-old was arrested in Cairo on December 23, 2016, while visiting his family for a holiday. He was interrogated for more than 15 hours without a lawyer present, before being released and then arrested again days later.
Egypt’s Ministry of Interior publicly accused him of “disseminating false news and receiving monetary funds from foreign authorities in order to defame the state’s reputation”, but no charges were ever formally brought against him. Hussein and Al Jazeera consistently denied the allegations.
Three Al Jazeera journalists were previously arrested in 2013, including Australian Peter Greste, drawing international condemnation. They were freed in 2015.
“This has been a colossal and shameful travesty of justice by Egypt purely for political ends,” tweeted Greste, hours before Hussein’s arrival home.
Egypt is the world’s worst jailer of journalists behind China and Turkey, according to press freedom group the Committee to Protect Journalists.
