Reporter 'Immensely Relieved' To Be Freed

An Al Jazeera journalist, who served 400 days in an Egyptian jail on charges including helping the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, has been deported.

Australian Peter Greste said he was "immensely relieved" to be released from a Cairo prison following a presidential "approval".

He flew to Cyprus and is now travelling on to his home country to be reunited with his family.

Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told reporters in Sydney: "I spoke to Peter Greste shortly after his release and before he departed Egypt.

"He was immensely relieved and he was desperate to come home to Australia and reunite with his family."

Mr Greste's parents Juris and Lois, and brother Andrew are due to hold a news conference in Brisbane at midnight tonight.

The 49-year-old, along with Al Jazeera colleagues, Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed, have been held in prison since December 2013.

The trio were sentenced last June to between seven and 10 years in jail on charges including spreading lies to help a "terrorist organisation" - a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egyptian authorities had accused Al Jazeera of acting as a mouthpiece for the movement, which had swept to power after the country's 2011 revolution.

The three were arrested followed the ousting of Egypt's Islamist president and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi by the military, which was headed by Abdel Fattah al Sisi who is now president.

Their case provoked an international outcry and widespread calls for their freedom.

Human rights groups and several media outlets condemned the guilty verdicts as political, saying the three were doing their job during a tumultuous time.

A security official said Mr Fahmy was expected to be released from prison within days and his fiancee said she was hopeful he would be deported soon.

Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera welcomed Mr Greste's release but demanded his two colleagues be freed.

It said all three have to be exonerated, and the convictions against other journalists from the network who were tried in absentia also have to be lifted.

Last month, Egypt's Court of Cassation overturned their convictions but decided the trio would face a retrial and denied them bail.

Mostefa Souag, acting Director General of Al Jazeera Media Network, said: "We're pleased for Peter and his family that they are to be reunited.

"It has been an incredible and unjustifiable ordeal for them, and they have coped with incredible dignity.

"Peter's integrity is not just intact, but has been further enhanced by the fortitude and sacrifice he has shown for his profession of informing the public.

"We will not rest until Baher and Mohamed also regain their freedom."

Amnesty International's Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said: "The news that Peter Greste will finally be allowed to leave Egypt after more than a year in prison comes as a welcome relief, but nothing can make up for his ordeal.

"It is vital that in the celebratory fanfare surrounding his deportation the world does not forget the continuing ordeal of Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy who remain behind bars at Tora prison in Cairo."