Egyptian authorities have agreed to release a sick journalist held without charge since August 2011.
25-year-old Abdullah Elshamy was working for Al Jazeera’s main Arabic-language network covering the use of military force to break up Islamist protests against the removal of the Muslim Brotherhood-led government, when he was forcibly removed and held in custody.
Elshamy had been on hunger strike since early February and photographs taken in prison showed him to haggard and apparently malnourished. The news of his planned release came just a week after the inauguration of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, but there was no public indication of presidential involvement in the decision.
