By the CNN Wire Staff
updated 3:58 AM EST, Sat November 26, 2011
Three American students were attending American University in Cairo on a semester-long, study-abroad program.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
(CNN) -- An American college student arrested during Egypt's recent protests is scheduled to arrive home in Missouri on Saturday night, his father said.
Derrik Sweeney is one of three American students detained in Cairo since Monday. Sweeney, Gregory Porter and Luke Gates were released from police custody Friday, an attorney for one of the men said.
The students were set to board separate commercial flights to return home, according to Sweeney's mother, Joy Sweeney.
Theodore Simon, an attorney for Porter's family, said "his parents anxiously await his return."
The three were arrested after being accused of throwing Molotov cocktails in recent clashes that have rattled the country since last week. Their release was ordered Thursday.
Derrik Sweeney's father, Kevin Sweeney, said his son was expected to fly out of Cairo on Saturday morning and will arrive home that night.
"He's extremely excited," Kevin Sweeney said. The family was planning to hold a belated Thanksgiving meal Sunday.
Joy Sweeney said her son told her Wednesday in a telephone call that "they had done nothing wrong." All had been attending American University in Cairo on a semester-long, study-abroad program.
Sweeney, 19, is a Georgetown University student from Jefferson City, Missouri; Porter, 19, is from Glenside, Pennsylvania, and attends Drexel University in Philadelphia; and Gates, 21, of Bloomington, Indiana, attends Indiana University.
Adel Saeed, the general prosecutor's spokesman, said Wednesday that a bag filled with empty bottles, a bottle of gasoline, a towel and a camera had been found with the three American students.
"They denied the bag belonged to them and said it belonged to two of their friends," Saeed said.
Kevin Sweeney said Friday that his son had been "falsely accused."
"He was there observing something that was definitely a phenomenon of the culture," he said. The father noted that Derrik -- who is majoring in both Arabic and psychology -- had gone to Egypt "not just to learn the language, he wanted to learn the culture."
Now, he said, his son does not plan to return to Egypt.
"This semester is over for him, whether he's able to finish it remotely or writes it off," he said. "He really does not want to be in Egypt right now."
Kevin Sweeney declined to discuss any possible injuries his son suffered while in police custody. He was not aware of the conditions of the other two men.
Also on Friday, Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim -- who was arrested amid the protests in Cairo -- was released, according to her lawyer, Ragia Omran.
Film producer Karim Amer said Wednesday that Noujaim -- whose works include "The Control Room," a documentary about Al-Jazeera and the United States during the early days of the Iraq War -- was arrested while filming near the Interior Ministry building in Cairo.
CNN's Hussein Saddique and Michelle Cumbo contributed to this report
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