CAIRO — Egyptian authorities freed an Egyptian-American on Saturday who was sentenced to life in prison and had been on hunger strike for over a year, forcing him to renounce his Egyptian citizenship as a precondition of his release.
Mohammed Soltan, the son of a prominent member of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, had been convicted on charges of financing an anti-government sit-in and spreading "false news," one of thousands imprisoned after the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Soltan's release comes amid international criticism over Egypt's mass trials and imprisonments, and only days before President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi travels to Germany on a state visit.
Soltan, a 27-year-old Ohio State University graduate and former Barack Obama campaigner, was arrested in August 2013 when security forces came looking for his father at his home. His family said they didn't find the father at the time, but arrested him instead. His father, Salah, was detained later.
Soltan had had been on a hunger strike over his detention for over 16 months and his family said his health had been rapidly deteriorating.
Egyptian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief journalists, said Soltan boarded a flight for Frankfurt, Germany, early Saturday en route to the United States, using a U.S. passport.
Waleed Nasser, one of the lawyers representing Soltan, said that he was forced to renounce his Egyptian citizenship in order to secure his release. A decree el-Sissi issued in November allows him to deport foreign defendants convicted or accused of crimes.