CAIRO — An Egyptian court on Thursday ordered the release of two journalists jailed for more than a year on charges of broadcasting false news in a conspiracy with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The release followed the publication this week of a previously undisclosed opinion by Egypt’s highest appeals court condemning the journalists’ conviction as baseless when it ordered a retrial at the beginning of this year. The release also comes at a time when the Egyptian government appears to be trying to allay some of the international criticism it has received over a series of harsh and hasty criminal convictions issued during a crackdown on dissent after the military takeover in July 2013.

Both journalists, Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, were working for an English-language affiliate of the Qatar-owned broadcaster Al Jazeera when they were arrested at the end of 2013. Many analysts here, including the defendants, saw the case as part of a diplomatic standoff between Egypt’s new military-backed government and Qatar, which supported the ousted President Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood leader. A partial thaw in relations between the two states may have contributed to the release.

After hearing brief statements on Thursday, the judge ordered Mr. Fahmy, who is a dual citizen of Egypt and Canada, released on bail of $33,000, apparently because the court believed his Canadian citizenship increased the risk he might flee; Mr. Mohamed and a group of Islamist student protesters tried in the same case are all Egyptian and had only to provide their addresses.