Egyptian official: Australian Al-Jazeera reporter Peter Greste freed

FILE - In this Monday, March 31, 2014 file photo, Al-Jazeera English correspondent Peter Greste, appears in court along with several other defendants during their trial on terror charges, in Cairo, Egypt. A senior Egyptian prison official and the country's official news agency say Greste has been freed from prison and is on his way to Cairo airport to leave the country. (AP Photo/Heba Elkholy, El Shorouk, File) EGYPT OUT (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Monday, March 31, 2014 file photo, Al-Jazeera English producer Baher Mohamed, left, Canadian-Egyptian acting Cairo bureau chief Mohammed Fahmy, center, and correspondent Peter Greste, right, appear in court along with several other defendants during their trial on terror charges, in Cairo, Egypt. senior Egyptian prison official and the country's official news agency said Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015, that Al-Jazeera's Australian reporter Peter Greste has been freed from prison. A Cairo airport official says Greste has left Egypt on a flight to Cyprus after his release from prison. The agency said his release on Sunday, after more than a year behind bars, followed a presidential "approval" and both said it was coordinated with the Australian Embassy in Cairo. (AP Photo/Heba Elkholy, El Shorouk, File) EGYPT OUT (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Saturday, May 3, 2014 file photo, Al-Jazeera's award-winning Australian correspondent Peter Greste, appears in a defendants' cage in a courthouse near Tora prison in Cairo, Egypt. A senior Egyptian prison official and the country's official news agency say Greste has been freed from prison and is on his way to Cairo airport to leave the country. (AP Photo/Hamada Elrasam, File) (The Associated Press)

A senior Egyptian prison official and the country's official news agency say Al-Jazeera's Australian reporter Peter Greste has been freed from prison and is on his way to Cairo airport to leave the country.

The agency said his release on Sunday, after more than a year behind bars, followed a presidential "approval" and both said it was coordinated with the Australian Embassy in Cairo.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Mohammed Fahmy, and Egyptian Mohammed Baher were sentenced to at least seven years in prison on terrorism-related charges last year in a trial that was described as a sham by rights groups.