CAIRO — A Canadian journalist who fought terror-related charges in Egypt for nearly two years has finally begun his journey home.
Mohamed Fahmy has tweeted a photo of himself with Canada's ambassador to Egypt, Troy Lulashnyk, writing: "Canadian Ambassador Troy kindly escorted me to the gate at Cairo airport. A glorious end to our battle for freedom!"
Fahmy and two colleagues were arrested in Cairo in December 2013 while working for satellite news broadcaster Al Jazeera English and faced widely denounced charges.
A lengthy legal battle involving two trials and a year in prison for Fahmy finally came to an end when he was abruptly pardoned by Egypt's president just over a week ago.
Fahmy's first stop will be London, where he plans to meet with his high-profile lawyer, Amal Clooney, and take part in a few speaking engagements.
He is then expected to fly to Toronto, where he says he plans to urge political party leaders to make sure Canada does everything possible to help citizens detained abroad.