CAIRO (AP) — An Al-Jazeera Arabic service journalist who had been on hunger strike for more than four months to protest his prolonged detention without charges in Egypt walked free Tuesday to cheers.

The mother, wife and brothers of 26-year-old Abdullah Elshamy met him with hugs and cheers as he walked out of a police station in a northern Cairo suburb. Egypt’s prosecutor general had ordered his release, citing “health conditions.” Dozens of friends and supporters were also there to receive him after he spent 10 months in prison without charges.