Badr, along with 61 supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, were acquitted on Sunday by an Egyptian court. They had been accused of staging riots last July in central Cairo's Ramses Square.

Three Al-Jazeera reporters, however, are still being held by Egyptian authorities pending investigation into multiple charges against them.

On Wednesday,Egyptian prosecutors referred 20 people – including a number of AlJazeera journalists – to a criminal court on charges of "fabricating and disseminating reports suggesting that Egypt was in a state of civil war."

The move was met with rebukeby the United States, which said the detention of journalists "demonstrates an egregious disregard for the protection of basic rights and freedoms."