Al Jazeera channel reporter Abdullah al-Shamy said Tuesday he had been tortured during his 10-month detention in Egypt.
Speaking to reporters and cheering relatives after his release, Shamy said he had been detained over expressing his "free views which do not appeal to many," urging fellow reporters to back him against "tyranny and corruption".
General Prosecutor Hesham Barakat ordered the release of Shamy and 12 others on Tuesday for his ailing health as he had been on a hunger strike since January. He was detained for his alleged involvement in the violence that followed the dispersal of protests in 2013 demanding the reinstatement of deposed president Mohamed Morsy.
“I came out despite solitary confinement, lies and persecution. I insist that was detention not imprisonment,” Shamy told reporters, noting he had lost 45 kilos of weight while in custody.
His mother-in-law, Hoda Abdel Moneim, said his family is preparing a home-in celebration for him and his wife who had gone on a parallel hunger strike.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
