Egypt freed an Australian Al Jazeera reporter who has been jailed for more than a year for being seen as a threat to President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.

Peter Greste, one of the three reporters of Al Jazeera publication who were imprisoned, has served only 400 days from the original prison sentence of  seven years. He was jailed on grounds of helping a terrorist organization but he was already deported on Sunday.

Like Us on Facebook

According to reports, there was no official statement from the country's government as to why he was released much earlier than the set deadline. The abrupt decision came months after the Egyptian president was given the power to deport foreign prisoners.

Due to this, the two other reporters, Baher Mohamed from Egypt and Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy, are expected to be released anytime soon.

Al Jazeera Media Network's acting director general Mostefa Souag released a statement saying they will not rest until the two other reporters are freed. Souag also urged Egypt to free Mohaed and Fahmy as soon as possible.

According to Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, he has been discussing the possible release of Fahmy with Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. They have been meeting since mid-January to discuss the reporter's status and negotiate his freedom.

The three journalists were reportedly caught in the middle of a diplomatic feud between Egypt and Qatar. Al-Jazeera is a Qatar-based publication known for supporting the Islamist-related groups.

The arrest of the journalists came shortly after a coup took place when the president of Egypt has ousted the then-Muslim president Mohammed Morsi. They were arrested for working without the proper credentials but other reports are saying that the government dubbed them as the "Marriott Cell" as they suspected they were part of a terrorist organization that went against the newly-elected administration.

TagsAussie, Al Jazeera, journalist, Egypt, Peter Greste, Qatar