Canadian reporter Mohamed Fahmy has declared a desire to retrieve his Egyptian citizenship which he gave up to leave prison where he had spent 14 months over charges of unlicensed work and other terrorism related counts.
In an interview with NPR on Saturday, Fahmy, a reporter at Qatari satellite channel al-Jazeera English, said he had been duped by Egyptian authorities which told him that renouncing his Egyptian nationality was the only way for him to leave prison, based on a presidential decree that allowed extradition of foreign detainees.
Though Fahmy’s Australian colleague, Peter Greste, had been released based on that decree early February, Fahmy himself was not.
“I am angry and I am planning to get it back. I feel that I was betrayed by this deal,” Fahmy said in the interview, referring to his Egyptian citizenship.
The court ordered a retrial for Fahmy along with Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohamed on 23 February.
“So why are we still going to a retrial? It's the same charges, the same accusations, the same evidence. It just doesn't make any sense that I'm back in the cage again,” he stated.
Fahmy criticized the Canadian authorities of delinquency in demanding his deportation from Egypt, though Prime Minister Stephen Harper had stressed contacts were being made with Egypt for that purpose.
