A Drexel University student and two other American students have been released and are taking a KLM flight back to the states Friday after being arrested during a protest in Cairo, sources tell NBC.
An Egyptian court ordered their release Thursday.
A lawyer for Drexel University student Gregory Porter told NBC Philadelphia that Porter was on the plane and officially out of Egyptian airspace sometime after 9 p.m. Friday.
Porter, 19, was arrested in Cairo Monday for allegedly setting off Molotov cocktails against security forces during an anti-government protest near Tahrir Square. Derrik Sweeney, a 19-year-old Georgetown University student, and 21-year-old Indiana University student Luke Gates were also taken into custody.
Porter, a native of Glenside, Montgomery County, Pa., is a 2010 graduate of LaSalle College High School. He had been studying abroad at the American University in Cairo when the arrest took place.
The teen’s attorney Theodore “Ted” Simon tells NBC10 the panel of judges ordered the release despite a motion from Egyptian prosecutors for further detention. Government officials decided not to appeal the release.
Simon, the high-profile Philadelphia attorney who helped acquit American student Amanda Knox of murder charges in Italy, says he and his Egyptian counterpart are now working on getting Porter freed.
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“We’re in the process of taking every possible step to secure their release at the earliest possible time," he told NBC10's Rosemary Connors Thursday night.
Simon says he was able to speak to Porter over the phone after the release ruling.
