Egypt Releases Last Al Jazeera Journalists in Custody

Al Jazeera reported that Egypt has released its last detained journalists following a thaw in relations with Qatar. The wife of journalist Bahaa Eldin Ibrahim, Mona Gamal Eldin, confirmed that he has returned home after his release. The head of the Egyptian journalists' syndicate posted a photo on Facebook of the second journalist, Rabi’ El-Sheikh, at home. Both journalists, who are Egyptian, had been held in pretrial detention for almost four years. Relations between Egypt and Qatar deteriorated after President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, then a military leader, ousted President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, with Sisi assuming the presidency the following year. Egypt accused Al Jazeera of being a mouthpiece for the Brotherhood and detained several of its journalists. In 2017, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain imposed a boycott on Qatar over accusations of supporting terrorism, which Doha denied. An agreement to end the dispute was reached in early 2021, prompting Qatar and Egypt to quickly work on rebuilding relations. The release of Ibrahim and El-Sheikh follows the earlier release of Al Jazeera journalists Hossam Abdel Azim in May 2023 and Ahmed Al-Nagdy in September 2022. Mona Gamal Eldin informed Reuters that she learned about her husband's release on Wednesday after the family received a call from her husband’s lawyer.