Egypt has released Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein after more than four years in detention on accusations of publishing false news, a security source said Friday.
Hussein, an Egyptian national held under preventive detention since December 2016, was released from jail Thursday night, the source said, without giving further details.
Al Jazeera -- which has run a daily campaign for his liberation -- did not immediately confirm his release but had repeatedly said he was being held without formal charges, a trial or conviction.
Gamal Eid, head of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, confirmed to AFP that a decision was taken by authorities to release Hussein, adding however "he has still not returned home".
The Egyptian Observatory for Journalism and Media, a non-governmental organisation, said on its Facebook page that a Cairo criminal court had decided on Monday to free Hussein.
There had been repeated calls for his release, including from human rights watchdog Amnesty International, after a Cairo prosecutor in May 2019 ordered he be freed from jail.
Mahmoud Hussein
