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Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste poses for a photograph in Kibati village, near Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo August 7, 2013. Three Al Jazeera journalists were jailed for seven years in Egypt on Monday after a 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. The three, who all deny the charges, include Australian Greste, Al Jazeera's Kenya-based correspondent, and Canadian-Egyptian national Mohamed Fahmy, Cairo bureau chief of Al Jazeera English. Picture taken August 7, 2013. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Australian journalist Peter Greste has been released by Egypt on Sunday. The Al-Jazeera journalist spent 400 days in Tora Prison.

Andrew, Peter’s brother, confirmed that release of the journalist who is on his way to Cyprus. He will get back to Australia thereafter. Andrew said that the family was ecstatic that Peter had been released. He, on the other hand, urged that the world should respect his privacy. He asked the media to give Peter time to “appreciate his freedom” before he could face them.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop talked to Peter soon after his release had got finalised. Peter told her that he was desperate to come home. "I personally spoke with the foreign minister in Egypt and made a number of representations, oral and in writing, and spoke to President al-Sisi," The Sydney Morning Herald quotes Bishop. She thanked the people who had stood by the cause.

Peter’s colleague and fellow prisoner Mohamed Fahmy is also set to be released within days. The Canadian-Egyptian bureau chief for Al-Jazeera will soon be deported to Canada. Peter and Fahmy were jailed after they had faced a trial. Egyptian Baher Mohamed, an Al-Jazeera producer, also faced the trial with the two. Human rights commentators and legal experts strongly condemned the trial. While Egypt has decided to release Peter and Fahmy, Mohamed’s fate is apparently still undecided.

There was hardly any evidence against the arrested journalists. Both Peter and Fahmy were sentenced to seven years in prison. The sentence came in June 2014 while the two strongly denied the charges against them. Mohamed was sentenced to 10 years.

The convicts were found guilty of helping a terrorist group belonging to Muslim Brotherhood, the banned opposition group in Egypt. They were also found guilty of fabricating news damaging Egypt’s reputation worldwide.

Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi issued a presidential decree in November 2014. It allowed him to deport foreigners charged with criminal offences in Egypt. Peter and Fahmy applied to be deported through a presidential decree. Egypt's Court of Cassation ordered a retrial on Jan. 1 even though the journalists were not granted bail. While the decree may have been able to free the foreigners, Mohamed may still be left in prison because of his Egyptian nationality.