FAHMY VISITS B.C. LEGISLATURE
Most people come away from watching question period at the legislature disgusted at all the yelling and carrying on.
Mohamed Fahmy, fresh from a year in an Egyptian prison, relished every minute of it.
After watching a half-hour of bickering over deleted emails, he said: “What we saw today on the floor, that’s what I love about Canada.”
His point was that it was an democratic, unfettered argument about open government. That would appeal to a journalist who was tossed in jail on “reporting false news” charges, allegedly for favouring opponents of the Egyptian government.
Apart from appreciating freedoms, he and his wife also love the West Coast, period.
“We’re just walking around like kids, all excited, taking pictures of the leaves and the ocean.”
He has picked up some diplomatic skills in the two weeks since he returned to Canada. He had dual Canadian-Egyptian citizenship while working for years in the Middle East, but renounced the Egyptian side and relied on his Canadian passport after being arrested. He returned from the two-year ordeal just before the election and blasted Prime Minister Stephen Harper for not doing enough to help him.
“Sitting in that prison cell, it was difficult not to feel betrayed and abandoned by Prime Minister Harper,” he told a national news conference. Harper reportedly did intervene on his behalf, but it took two trials over two years before the case was closed.
On Tuesday, Fahmy said he was “very grateful” for attempts by Harper and the consular team for trying to make his life easier. “But I do believe there are lessons to be learned from this case.”
He’s working with Amnesty International on a charter for the federal government about how to protect imprisoned Canadians abroad. Step 1 is to act fast and intercede before politically inspired charges go to court.
“Once a case goes to court it becomes really complicated,” he said. “It’s important for the most senior leader to intervene immediately when the arrest happens.”
He briefed prime ministerdesignate Justin Trudeau — who went to bat for him — soon after landing.
He also has unresolved issues with his ex-employer, Al Jazeera, and is suing the company in B.C. Supreme Court for huge damages.
He said the network showed deliberate negligence by suing Egypt over a licensing dispute in the middle of his case. “We immediately became caught in this political dispute. If you want to sue Egypt that’s your business, but wait till your employees are out of the cage,” he said.
Fahmy is starting a teaching gig at the University of British Columbia and was warmly welcomed to the legislature. His lecture topics will revolve around how reporters and others should operate in hostile environments.
“You can be the best journalist in world but not have the communication skills on the ground, and the language and experience to actually do your job safely and freely,” he said.
He said he worries about excited young freelancers who head off and get into trouble. “They need to realize when you go in with CNN or BBC, you have a huge team going in with you. Specialists, former security guards [with] equipment like tracers.” Security is important and comes before any story, he said.
He and his wife have also started a foundation to support reporters in jail. About 200 are imprisoned around the world and 65 have been killed so far this year.
With a teaching job at UBC, a foundation to build and an affinity for the West Coast that started when he studied here years ago, Fahmy looks to be a high-profile new face on the provincial scene.
Will he last? His international profile will wane, now that his crisis is over. He had rock-star status after his nightmare concluded, but that won’t last. He’s got the media smarts to do something important with the foundation, if he can keep it funded.
But crisis reporting can become addictive. He might eventually chuck it all and go back to the trouble spots. Or get into politics or government.