PHILADELPHIA ? At least one of three American students arrested during protests in Cairo arrived back in the U.S. on Saturday, nearly three days after an Egyptian court ordered their release.
Gregory Porter, 19, landed in Philadelphia after flying from Cairo to Paris. He and two other U.S. students had been arrested on the roof of a university building near Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square last Sunday after officials accused them of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters.
Luke Gates, 21, and Derrik Sweeney, 19, left the Egyptian capital Saturday morning on separate flights to Frankfurt, Germany, an airport official in Cairo said.
All three young men were studying at the American University in Cairo.
Porter, who attends Drexel University in Philadelphia, was met at the airport by his parents and other relatives. He is from nearby Glenside, Pa.
"We're thrilled that he's home," said Sharon Sloan of Newtown, Pa., one of the relatives at the airport. "We think it's a miracle, definitely an answer to prayer."
Protests have been going on in Cairo there since Nov. 19, in anticipation of the landmark parliamentary elections due to start Monday. On Friday, the crowd grew to more than 100,000 people, and thousands remained there Saturday.
Gates, who attends Indiana University, was in the air Saturday morning and expected to return to Bloomington, Ind., later in the day, university spokesman Mark Land said.
His parents haven't disclosed which flights their son was taking home and are "really hopeful they can spend a little time with him without having to answer a lot of questions" in the media spotlight, Land said.
He said he spoke to Gates' father, Bill Gates, shortly after his son boarded a flight out of Egypt.
"He said he was doing very well and he was very excited to be on his way home," Land said.
Joy Sweeney told the AP that her son, a 19-year-old Georgetown University student from Jefferson City, Mo., would fly from Frankfurt to Washington, then on to St. Louis. She said family will meet him when he arrives at the airport late Saturday.
"I am ecstatic," Sweeney said Friday. "I can't believe he's actually going to get on a plane. It is so wonderful."
Sweeney said she had talked with her son Friday afternoon and "he seemed jubilant."
"He thought he was going to be able to go back to his dorm room and get his stuff," she said. "We said, `No, no, don't get your stuff, we just want you here.'"
The university will ship his belongings home, she said.
Sweeney had earlier said she did not prepare a Thanksgiving celebration this week because the idea seemed "absolutely irrelevant" while her son still was being held.
"I'm getting ready to head out and buy turkey and stuffing and all the good fixings so that we can make a good Thanksgiving dinner," she said Friday.
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Associated Press writers Sandy Kozel in Washington; Rick Callahan in Indianapolis; Kathy Matheson and Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia; and Dana Fields in Kansas City, Mo., contributed to this report.
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