Drexel student arrested in Cairo is back in Philadelphia

Greg Porter, the Drexel University sophomore who was arrested by police in Cairo during a pro-democracy riot, returned to the United States on Saturday evening, saying he was "so thankful to be back in Philadelphia."

Porter arrived from Frankfurt, Germany, at Philadelphia International Airport's international terminal shortly after 5 p.m. and was greeted by family and a phalanx of media cameras.

Smiling and appearing healthy, Porter spoke briefly, thanking his parents, attorneys, and university and embassy officials, but he did not discuss the actions that led to his arrest.

Flanked by his mother, Nancy Hansen; his father, Adrian Porter; and his attorney, Porter then clambered into a waiting black Land Rover for the trip home to Glenside.

Porter, 19; Luke Gates, 21, of Indiana University; and Derrik Sweeney, 19, of Georgetown University, had been detained Monday, when they were arrested on charges of throwing firebombs at police from a rooftop in the American University of Cairo compound during protests. The compound is near Tahrir Square, the heart of the protests.

All three men were studying at the American University.

On Thursday, a court ordered the three students released.

Porter left Cairo on Friday evening, said attorney Theodore Simon, who has been speaking for the family.

Simon praised Porter as "a really fine young man" and said he had remained calm throughout his detention in Cairo.

After his release, Porter flew to Germany and then on to Philadelphia on a Lufthansa flight.

His parents were ushered into the secure customs area to meet Porter's plane, while other family waited in the arrival hall for the student to appear.

When he walked through the glass doors of the terminal, they cheered and yelled, "We love you, Greg!"

"We are extremely relieved to hear that he is safe and on his way home," said Lori Doyle, a Drexel University spokeswoman.

Simon, who had worked with cocounsel in Egypt, said Friday that "certain necessary administrative steps" that precluded the release of Porter, a graduate of La Salle College High School, from police custody had been resolved. A release order was entered, and prosecutors agreed not to appeal, he said.

Simon, who also represented Amanda Knox, the U.S. exchange student whose murder conviction in the death of her roommate in Italy was recently overturned, said he was able to talk with Porter while he was detained. The student said he was treated acceptably.

"He presented himself as someone much more mature than his 19 years, given the extraordinary difficulties he was facing," Simon said.

Gates and Sweeney, the two other students arrested with Porter, also flew home from Frankfurt on Saturday.

Staff writer Mari A. Schaefer contributed to this article.