Mohamed Fahmy is filled with ideas for his future as a free man.
Mere hours after being released from a Cairo prison, the Canadian journalist who spent nearly two years fighting widely decried terror charges is eager to discuss the next stage of his fight for freedom of the press in Egypt.
"It's a whole new chapter, it's like being born again," he told The Canadian Press as the reality of his liberty began to sink in. "I just have so much inside me that I want to let out."
When he was sent to prison for the second time in the same case last month, Fahmy began working on what he called a charter of rights for journalists in Egypt. Before he leaves Cairo for Canada in a few days he wants to present his document to Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi who pardoned him.
"I want to build on what happened with this case and explain to him some of the issues that journalists face here on the ground," he said. "I will continue fighting to get at least little victories to a real true free press."
Fahmy's long-running legal saga has drawn attention from around the world ever since he and two colleagues were arrested in December 2013 while working for satellite news broadcaster Al Jazeera English.
The trio — who maintained their innocence throughout — were charged with offences that included supporting a banned organization and with fabricating footage to undermine the country's national security.
They were convicted in a trial that observers called a sham and sentenced to years in prison. An appeal brought about a second trial, although one of them, Australian Peter Greste, was suddenly released under a law which allows for the deportation of foreign nationals convicted of crimes.
Fahmy and his Egyptian colleague Baher Mohamed, however, underwent a retrial, were granted bail over the course of it, and ended up back behind bars when a judge found them guilty yet again — an outcome which shocked observers.
Returning to prison was difficult, Fahmy admitted, but not quite as hard as the initial shock of being sentenced to seven years during his first trial.
"You realize that your body and your mind is not prepared for what's to come, no matter what you do," he said. "When I got sentenced for three years this time around it really hurt and it was hard as well, but I sort of was more prepared mentally and physically in handling the prison. But it was tough, it was really tough."
There were days over the past month when Fahmy didn't even leave his cell when prisoners were allowed to mill around.
"I was in bed a lot of the time," he said. "I think what kept me going on is knowing that Marwa, my wife, was out there lobbying for me and (my lawyer) Amal Clooney as well. I think the reason why I'm out is that Marwa and Amal did a really, really intense job."
Like everything else in his case, Fahmy's presidential pardon granted Wednesday came as yet another surprise.
He was in his cell, with the television on, when he heard his name and his colleague's name announced on a list of presidential pardons.
"We were jumping and hugging," he recalled. "The officers came in (and) they're like pack your bags, we're leaving now. It was surreal."
After being bundled into a police vehicle, Fahmy said he and his colleague were dropped outside a school in a south Cairo neighbourhood and bid goodbye.
"They dropped me and Baher in the middle of the street with no money and no mobile phones and no way of contacting anyone," he said with a laugh. "We're standing there dressed in our prison garb, everyone is looking at us, we didn't know what to do until somebody came in and tweeted a photo of us and then all the journalists came in."
After sharing many hugs with his wife — who he called his lifeline— thanking his supporters in Canada and around the world over and over again, and trying to digest his newfound freedom, Fahmy is setting his sights on the future.
Over the coming days he needs to ensure the travel ban he was under is lifted so he can leave Egypt for Canada. He plans to stop first in either Toronto, where he has many supporters, or in Montreal, where his parents live, before heading for Vancouver, where he and his wife will build a new life.
Part of that life will involve a position as an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia's school of journalism.
He is also writing a book about his experiences and is eager to share what he has learned from his ordeal.
"This case has taught me that if I got into journalism to make a difference then I've learned how journalism really can lead to your freedom," he said. "I don't remember a cause or a case in recent history that had so much unity behind it in terms of armies of diplomats around the world advocating press freedom."
