September 23, 2015 - 17:42 AMT
Egypt's President pardons Al-Jazeera journalists

The Egyptian president on Wednesday, September 23, pardoned two journalists for Al-Jazeera English and dozens of human rights activists, state media and the lawyer of one of the reporters said, according to the Associated Press.

The two - Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian national Baher Mohammed - were expected to be released later in the day.

The state-run MENA news agency said a third person from the case - which included multiple other defendants along with Australian journalist Peter Greste - was also pardoned but was not identified by name. Greste was deported earlier this year.

A tweet from Fahmy's account Wednesday afternoon said "Thank you to all the supporters sending us the news, we have heard and are very happy. AJ Staff is Free!"

The three were sentenced to three years in prison last month for airing what a court described as "false news" and biased coverage. There was no immediate comment from the Al-Jazeera network, which is based in Doha, Qatar.

The pardon also comes a day before el-Sissi is to travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.