Greste family cheers release

THE Greste family spent 400 days fighting for their son’s freedom. In the end it came so fast it made their heads spin.

Just when the Al Jazeera journalist will be back in Australia remains unclear, as his family closes ranks around him to protect his mental health.

They say he’ll need time in his safe haven of Cyprus to digest the fact he’s finally free after more than a year in an Egyptian jail.

He was jailed after being accused of spreading false news and supporting the banned Islamist movement of deposed president Mohamed Morsi.

His euphoric family have spoken of their guarded hope when the rumour mill went into overdrive at the weekend, with their sources in Egypt and in Australia telling them Peter could soon walk free.

Within hours it had happened, and by early yesterday, Australian time, he was in Cyprus with his brother Michael.

Australian diplomats in Cairo, who had worked so tirelessly for Peter’s freedom, whisked him straight from prison and on to a plane bound for the safety of the Mediterranean island country.

And that’s where he’ll stay for as long as he needs to.

“I think he’ll recover well but he needs that space,” his ecstatic mother, Lois Greste, said yesterday.

“(He’ll come back) when he’s ready to come back. And not before.”

Lois, father Juris, and brother Andrew laughed and at times blinked back tears as they spoke of the extraordinary international campaign to free Peter and two of his Al Jazeera colleagues following their arrest in December 2013.

They said Peter wanted to thank everyday Australians, journalists worldwide, and leaders including US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Tony Abbott for fighting to free him from his seven-year jail term.

The family’s euphoria has been tempered by the fact Peter’s colleagues – CanadianEgyptian Mohamed Fahmy and producer Baher Mohamed, who is Egyptian – remain locked up on charges described as politically motivated.