Rivals urge Harper to help free journalist jailed in Egypt

MONTREAL — Stephen Harper’s political opponents are calling on the prime minister to take time off the campaign trail and concentrate on securing the release of jailed Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy.

An Egyptian court sentenced Fahmy to three years in prison on Saturday and the foreign affairs critics for both the NDP and the Liberals lashed out at Harper for failing to intervene earlier.

They both called on him Monday to phone Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to personally demand the Al-Jazeera journalist’s release.

“Very concretely, we are asking Stephen Harper to put aside the election campaign for a moment and call President al-Sisi directly and ask him to send Mr. Fahmy home,” NDP Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar said.

Liberal Foreign Affairs critic Marc Garneau said Harper should contact al-Sisi and “register Canada’s strongest disapproval.”

Fahmy faced widely denounced terror charges and spent more than a year in prison before a successful appeal of a conviction resulted in a retrial that culminated in Saturday’s verdict, where Fahmy was sentenced for failing to register with the country’s journalist syndicate, bringing in equipment without security approval and broadcasting “false news” on Al-Jazeera.

Garneau said it was “very clear” the Harper government’s response was “inadequate” considering Fahmy’s colleague at AlJazeera, Peter Greste, was successfully deported to his native Australia because of “direct intervention” on the part of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

On Sunday, Defence Minister Jason Kenney reiterated statements that the Canadian government has serious concerns about Fahmy’s case and will continue to raise its concerns “at the highest levels,” but he would not discuss details or specify whether Harper would personally intervene.

“It’s easy for an opposition leader to stand up with a megaphone,” he said. “But sometimes a degree of forceful discretion is required in the management of complex consular cases.”

Fahmy’s wife, Marwa Omara, said the federal government has formally asked al-Sisi to either pardon him or allow his deportation to Canada.

“I just hope the Canadian government gets Mohamed out from here.”