Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed listen to a ruling at a court in Cairo
Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed (L to R) listen to a ruling at a court in Cairo June 23, 2014. The three Al Jazeera journalists were jailed for seven years in Egypt on Monday after the court convicted them of helping a "terrorist organization" by spreading lies, in a case that has raised questions about the country's respect for media freedoms. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

Tony Abbott thanked Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the president of Egypt, for his role in getting Australian journalist Peter Greste released from prison. The Al-Jazeera journalist served 400 days along with his colleagues Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy.

Abbott’s office issued a statement confirming Abbott’s gesture for the Egyptian president. The statement says that Abbott has expressed hope Greste’s colleagues Fahmy and Baher will also be released soon. The three journalists have been accused of plotting with Muslim Brotherhood, the organisation which is banned by the Egyptian government. Greste was deported from Egypt under a new presidential decree allowing the transfer of international prisoners.

The Australian PM discussed with Sisi about measures to counter terrorism as well. “They agreed on the importance of countries of the world working together to tackle extremism and the threat posed by terrorism,” The Guardian quotes the statement, “Prime minister Abbott thanked, praised and congratulated the president on his historic new year speech which called for a religious revolution to counter Islamic extremism.”

Canadian-Iranian Maziar Bahari, the BBC journalist who was jailed in Iran in 2009, has said that he can identify with Greste’s bittersweet feeling of getting released while his colleagues are still in prison. According to Bahari, it is hard to deal with the feeling of being set free while fellow journalists are still in captivity.

ABC News quotes Bahari who says that, even though it is utter pleasure to be out of that situation, it is a bit of guilt as well. He has said that the guilt feeling is a bit more for Greste as, unlike Bahari, he was arrested with two more people. Bahari said that he was alone when he was arrested.

Greste is expected to reach Australia on Thursday. Even though he expressed happiness about his release, he asked people not to forget about his colleagues still in captivity. He said that, if he himself deserved to be free, the other two Al-Jazeera journalists deserved to be free as well. Fahmy is a Canadian who may be released under the same presidential decree which freed Greste. However, the fate of Baher, an Egyptian, is still undecided.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@IBTimes.com.au