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The wife of pardoned Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy says he and his Egyptian colleague have been released from prison.

Marwa Omara says her husband and his colleague, Baher Mohammed, were freed on Wednesday following a pardon from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

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The two journalists were arrested in December 2013, and the long-running case has been widely condemned by rights groups and international organizations.

They were among a group of 100 people pardoned by el-Sissi on the eve of the major Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

The pardon also comes a day before the Egyptian leader is to travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

President #Sisi just issued a Presidential Pardon releasing 100 of Egyptian activists including #aljazeera Reporter Mohamed Fahmy & others. —

Egypt MFA Spokesman (@MfaEgypt) September 23, 2015

Fahmy and Mohammed were released hours after the pardon was announced, and dropped off by police in a Cairo suburb. It was not immediately clear if all the other pardoned prisoners were also freed Wednesday.