THE lawyer for Canadian Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy hammered the Canadian government on Thursday for not doing enough to secure his release.

Mr Fahmy was a dual Canadian-Egyptian citizen and was told to give up his Egyptian nationality to qualify for deportation. 

He complied, but Egyptian authorities have still not deported him.

Lawyer Amal Clooney said appeals from the Canadian public and politicians to intervene had “fallen on deaf ears.”

Ms Clooney said the Canadian government had received assurances Mr Fahmy would be deported and when that didn’t happen, it merely issued a statement.

“Canada just published a statement by a junior minister calling the situation ‘unacceptable’ and asking for Fahmy’s ‘full and immediate release’ and ‘consideration of a general amnesty’,” Ms Clooney said.

“Such sheepish whimpers are woefully inadequate when it comes to enforcing an agreement reached with a sovereign state regarding a citizen’s release from detention.”