A Canadian journalist who spent much of the last two years jailed in Egypt says he has requested Egyptian authorities to restore the citizenship he renounced in order to win his release.

Mohamed Fahmy, a former Al Jazeera journalist who was released in September after receiving a pardon from Egypt's president, was a dual citizen but renounced his Egyptian citizenship late last year.

Fahmy was arrested in 2013 with two A -Jazeera English colleagues. In a case widely condemned by rights groups, he was sentenced to three years in prison in a retrial this year for airing what a court described as "false news" and coverage biased in favor of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Fahmy lives in Canada but owns property in Egypt and says reclaiming citizenship is a matter of principle.