Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste, who was released from an Egyptian prison in February, was filming a show for the ABC when he found out his two colleagues had also been released.
Greste was appearing on The Chaser's Media Circus when he was handed a note by host Craig Reucassel, informing him that his colleagues Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed had been pardoned and freed.
"We've been fighting for the past eight months for this," an emotional Greste said upon hearing the news.
Greste, Fahmy and Baher were convicted of broadcasting "false" news and aiding the Muslim Brotherhood by Egyptian authorities in a trial many saw as a sham.
Greste was deported in February but remains a convicted criminal in Egypt after he was sentenced in absentia last month. Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday said the Australian government would continue to fight for a full pardon for Greste.
"I want Peter … to know that the Australian government continues to support you and your colleagues and we will continue to press the government of Egypt to pardon you and the other journalists with whom you worked," Turnbull said during a speech in Canberra.
Fahmy and Baher were among 100 prisoners pardoned by Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The journalists were released from prison within hours.
"I am absolutely overjoyed for Fahmy and Baher it is absolutely fantastic news and more than anything else we have been concerned for their safety we have been concerned for their welfare," Greste told the ABC.
Amazing night on #MediaCircus, recording the show when Peter Greste heard that his colleagues had been pardoned.
Greste and his colleagues say they know of many more journalists who are wrongly detained in Egypt, and they will keep fighting for press freedom.
