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Baird headed to Egypt next month to push for Canadian journalist's release

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is off to Egypt next month to push for the release of imprisoned Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy.

OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is off to Egypt next month to push for the release of imprisoned Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy.

Baird says he will use soft diplomacy to try to win the release of the Al Jazeera journalist who will be entering his 13th month in captivity by the time Baird is in Cairo.

Baird tells Ottawa radio station CFRA that Canada has been working hard behind the scenes and he will continue that work at the highest political levels in the Egyptian capital next month.

Fahmy, 40, was arrested in December of last year along with two colleagues, Australian correspondent Peter Greste and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed.

Fahmy was sentenced to seven years in prison for supporting the banned Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi.

He denies the charges against him.