reporters to three years in prison on Saturday, in a shock
ruling following global demands for their acquittal.
Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher
Mohamed were in court for the verdict. Australian journalist
Peter Greste was tried in absentia after his deportation early
this year.
Several co-defendants, accused of working with Al-Jazeera,
received similar sentences.
Qatar-based Al-Jazeera denounced the verdict against the
trio, who were accused of broadcasting false news, as a
“deliberate attack on press freedom.”
Their retrial was ordered after an appeals court overturned
an initial sentence of seven years in prison, saying the
prosecution had presented scant evidence against them.
Fahmy’s lawyer, London-based Amal Clooney, told reporters
after the verdict she would press the Egyptian presidency
for a pardon.
“It’s a dangerous precedent in Egypt that journalists can be
locked up simply for reporting the news and courts can be
used as political tools,” she said.
Relatives and supporters were dismayed by the verdict.
“I’m shocked. Terribly shocked. We waited for an acquittal
and then found ourselves stuck again in the case. This is
illogical,” Fahmy’s brother Adel said.
Greste described the jail terms as “devastating.”
“We did nothing wrong. The prosecution presented no
evidence that we did anything wrong and so for us to be
convicted as terrorists on no evidence at all is frankly
outrageous,” he said.
The journalists were arrested in December 2013, months
after the military overthrew Islamist president Muhammad
Mursi and launched a deadly crackdown on his supporters.
At the time, Qatar, which owns Al-Jazeera, was supportive
of Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood movement.
Judge Hassan Farid said Saturday that it was clear to the
court that the reporters “were not journalists” and had
broadcast “false news” while operating in Egypt without a
permit.
Mohamed received an additional six-month sentence for
possession of a bullet he had picked up covering protest
violence.
Fahmy and Mohamed, who had been released on bail in
February at the start of the retrial, were taken into custody.
The trial has become an embarrassment for President Abdel
Fattah El-Sissi, the then army chief who ousted Mursi from
the presidency in 2013.
The sentences “are an affront to justice that sound the
death knell for freedom of expression in Egypt,” Amnesty
International said in a statement.
Washington and the United Nations had called for the
journalists’ release, and their trial was seen as damaging to
the country’s international standing.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said
at least 18 reporters are imprisoned in Egypt.
Pardon mulled
Sissi has said he wished that the Al-Jazeera journalists had
not been put on trial. He may pardon them if he chooses.
Fahmy, who gave up his Egyptian citizenship in hopes of
being deported as Greste was in February, had said he
looked forward to finally seeing justice and winning an
acquittal on the eve of the trial.
“From day one it’s a politicized trial. If justice is to be
served we should be acquitted as impartial journalists,” said
Fahmy, who formerly worked for CNN, on the eve of the
session.
Fahmy and Greste were arrested at a Cairo hotel where they
had a makeshift studio in December 2013, six months after
Mursi’s overthrow. Mohamed was picked up at his home.
The three were accused of having supported the
Brotherhood in their coverage. However, during the trial, the
prosecution failed to find fault in their reporting.
“The technical committee that was appointed by the judge
gave the court a report stating that none of our reports were
fabricated,” Fahmy said.
Al-Jazeera’s Arabic channel had been supportive of Mursi
and Islamists, but Fahmy, Greste and Mohamed worked for
its English-language news channel.
Fahmy says they discovered that the broadcaster was
unlicensed during their trial, when a prosecutor presented
evidence to that effect.
“We were shocked when the prosecutor gave this document;
we didn’t know this,” Fahmy said.
Source:arabnews
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