Peter Greste To Receive Full Pardon From Egypt, Julie Bishop Says

Australian journalist Peter Greste, who spent 400 days in an Egyptian prison in 2013-2014, is likely to receive a full pardon from Egyptian authorities, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says. 

At an assembly at the UN in New York City overnight, Bishop informally approached Egyptian Egypt’s president and Foreign Minister to discuss Peter Greste’s case, with the latter claiming a pardon would be made available to Greste – sidestepping the legal hurdle of Greste not being present in Egypt during this month’s trial. 

“Foreign Minister Shoukry informed me that there was a technical or legal hurdle because he [Greste] was not present in Egypt for the trial … however, he made it clear that he would either change the law or the president would consider being able to use his power to achieve the same result.

But the conversation was in the presence of President al-Sisi.” 

The news comes in the wake of Greste’s Al-Jazeera colleagues, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, walking free this week – following a two-year long ordeal, after authorities found Fahmy, Mohamed and Greste to be guilty of “aiding a terrorist organisation” in their local reporting. 

The exact moment Peter Greste was made aware of the news was caught on camera, during a live taping of The Chaser‘s Media Circus. 

After leaving the UN building, Julie Bishop happened to bump into Peter Greste on the street, delivering the news in person. <3

Guess who I and colleague @sueturtonaje bumped into at the #UNGA! With thanks to @JulieBishopMP for all her support. pic.twitter.com/4i4dUT0CJ2

— Peter Greste (@PeterGreste) September 25, 2015

A time frame for Peter Greste’s pardon is yet to be given. 

Via SMH.
Lead image by Robert Shakespeare via Getty.