Al-Jazeera journalist
Peter Greste says he is relieved to be free but feels "incredible
angst" at leaving behind two of his colleagues in jail in Egypt.
Mr Greste was freed
from prison and deported on Sunday after 400 days behind bars. He is now in
Cyprus, en route to Australia.
Mr Greste, Mohamed
Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were arrested in 2013 on charges of spreading false
news and aiding the Muslim Brotherhood.
Mr Fahmy and Mr
Mohamed remain jailed.
In an interview with
al-Jazeera, Mr Greste described his release as "a massive step
forward" for the Egyptian authorities.
"I just hope that
Egypt keeps going down that path with the others," the Australian
journalist added.
Mr Fahmy, who holds
dual Egyptian and Canadian citizenship, could be freed if he renounces his Egyptian
nationality, presidential sources say.
Canadian Foreign
Minister John Baird said on Monday that Mr Fahmy's release was
"imminent", without elaborating.
But there are still
concerns about Mr Mohamed, an Egyptian who holds no dual nationality.
Speaking on Monday, Mr
Greste said he "wasn't expecting" his release on Sunday and had been
released with what felt like "just a few minutes' notice".
He described a
"real mix of emotions" after learning he would be freed, with both a
"sense of relief and excitement but also real stress in having to say
goodbye to my colleagues and friends - people who've really become family
inside that prison".
"It was a very
difficult moment walking out of that prison. Saying goodbye to those guys, not
knowing how much longer they would have to put up with this."
He expressed concern
for Mr Fahmy and Mr Mohamed, as well as other journalists convicted in
absentia.
"If it's right
for me to be free then it's right for all of them to be free," he said.
Mr Greste, Mr Fahmy
and Mr Mohamed, journalists for al-Jazeera English, were arrested in 2013 after
being accused of collaborating with the banned Muslim Brotherhood after the
overthrow of former President Mohammed Morsi by the military.
All three denied the
charges against them and said their trial was a sham.
In June last year, Mr
Fahmy and Mr Greste were sentenced to seven years in prison and Mr Mohamed to
10. Their sentences sparked an international outcry.
The three men's
convictions were overturned on 1 January but they remained in custody pending a
retrial.
Several students have
also been held in the same case. The students deny working for Al-Jazeera but
it is thought that material filmed on their phones was used by the network.
In a separate case,
Abdullah El-Shamy, a journalist for Al-Jazeera's Arabic channel, was arrested
in August 2013 when police broke up a protest by supporters of Mr Morsi.
He was released on
health grounds in June 2014 after a hunger strike of nearly five months.
According to campaign
group Reporters Without Borders, there are currently 165 journalists imprisoned
around the world, including 15 in Egypt.
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