Anger as Egypt sentences trio of journalists
CAIRO — Rights groups, freedom of the press advocates and family members expressed dismay Saturday after an Egyptian court sentenced three journalists employed by Al Jazeera English TV channel to prison terms of at least three years.
The case has been viewed by many as emblematic of a wave of repression — much of it at the hands of the judiciary and law-enforcement officials — that has followed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi’s removal from office by the Egyptian military more than two years ago. The three journalists were accused of aiding Morsi’s now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and spreading false news.
One of the trio, Australian correspondent Peter Greste, was sentenced in absentia, having been deported to his homeland in February after Egypt’s highest court granted the journalists a retrial. Canadian Mohamed Fahmy, who had renounced his Egyptian citizenship in hope of deportation, and producer Baher Mohamed, an Egyptian, were again taken into custody after the verdict.
In Qatar, the journalists’ employer called the ruling inexplicable.
“Today’s verdict defies logic and common sense,” said Mostefa Souag, Al Jazeera’s acting director. “The whole case has been heavily politicized and has not been conducted in a free and fair manner.”
The three were arrested in December 2013 after authorities raided their offices in a five-star Cairo hotel.
After a trial in which oddly unrelated videos were offered to support terrorismrelated accusations against them, the three — who watched the proceedings from a courtroom cage — were given seven-year sentences in June 2014.
That verdict was set aside in January, and Fahmy and Mohammed were later freed pending a new ruling.
In the interim, Fahmy married his longtime fiancee, expressed cautious hope for an acquittal and sought deportation to Canada.
His lawyer, Amal Clooney, said she and Canada’s ambassador to Egypt would continue to press the deportation request.
From its outset, the case was strongly colored by Egypt’s very public diplomatic dispute with Qatar, which owns the satellite TV network Al Jazeera. The wealthy Persian Gulf emirate infuriated Egypt’s leaders by calling for Morsi’s reinstatement after the popularly supported coup against him. The network’s Egypt affiliate, which operated separately from the English-language service and had vociferously defended Morsi, was shut down.
The defendants were expected to appeal their latest conviction on charges of operating without official authorization and presenting reports harmful to Egypt.
President Abdel Fattah Sisi, who as defense minister presided over the coup that ousted Morsi, could also pardon them, or order Fahmy deported.
Clooney called the verdict “very dangerous.”
“It sends a message that journalists can be locked up for simply doing their job, for telling the truth and reporting the news,” she told reporters afterward. “And it sends a dangerous message that there are judges in Egypt who will allow their courts to become instruments of political repression and propaganda.”
Condemnations poured in from international rights groups and media advocacy organizations. Reporters Without Borders called the sentencings “disgraceful” and Amnesty International termed the proceedings “farcical.”
Although Al Jazeera has publicly stood by the journalists, the network’s own role in their ordeal has been called into question. Fahmy has filed a $100-million lawsuit in Canada accusing Al Jazeera of disregarding its employees’ safety by taking a stridently pro-Brotherhood stance in Arabic-language reports.