Peter Greste Arrives Home In Brisbane


Australian journalist for Al Jazeera English, Peter Greste, following his release from an Egyptian prison on Monday, has touched down in Brisbane overnight.

A flock of supporters welcomed Greste on the ground at Brisbane airport in the early hours of this morning, holding banners emblazoned with the slogan, “Journalism is not a crime.”

In 2014, Greste and two other Al Jazeera English journalists, Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy, were put on trial after being accused for filing news reports that were “damaging for national security.” In June last year, Greste and his colleague Fahmy each received seven years in prison; Mohamed received ten years.

On his arrival in Brisbane, Greste said, beaming, “I can’t tell you how ecstatic I am to be here. This is the moment I had rehearsed in my mind 400 times over the past, well, 400 days. And it feels absolutely awesome to be here.”

Greste had earlier posted this joyous tweet. If this doesn’t feel good, I don’t know what does.

Despite Greste’s freedom being granted earlier this week, Fahmy and Mohamed remain imprisoned in Egypt. Greste noted that the euphoria of his release must not overshadow the reality of other jailed journalists: 

“This is all tempered by a real worry for my colleagues, for Mohamed Fahmy, for Baher, for all of the other guys … Egypt now has the opportunity to show that justice doesn’t depend on nationality…If it’s right for me to be free, then it’s right for all of those who were imprisoned in our case to be free, and it’s right for all those convicted to be freed from those convictions.”

Welcome home, Peter.

All images by Robert Shakespeare via Getty.

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