Al Jazeera journo faces trial alone

CAIRO: With Australian Peter Greste freed and a Canadian colleague close to release, the other Al Jazeera journalist arrested in Cairo faces languishing in jail for an indefinite period because he has only Egyptian nationality.

Under global pressure to release the prisoners, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a decree tailored for Greste and colleague Mohamed Fahmy, allowing the deportation of foreigners but overlooking Baher Mohamed in the process.

Greste, an acclaimed reporter for Al Jazeera English, was deported last week.

Fahmy, a dual national, had to renounce his Egyptian citizenship and his release and deportation to Canada is imminent, a government official said.

But in the face of delays, prominent lawyer Amal Clooney has requested a meeting with Mr Sisi to press Fahmy’s case, a letter obtained on Saturday showed, leaving Mohamed in the cold.

“We’re paying the price for being Egyptian,” his wife Jihan Rashid said.

“It’s the peak of injustice for my husband to remain in prison and be tried while his foreign colleagues are freed,” Mrs Rashid said.

The three, all employees of the Qatariowned Al Jazeera English broadcaster, were arrested in December 2013 and tried for allegedly supporting the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood in their coverage.

The trial came against the backdrop of a cold war between Egypt and Qatar, which supported the Islamist movement of president Mohamed Morsi, whom Mr Sisi deposed in July 2013.

The three were sentenced to seven years in prison. The court handed Mohamed an additional three years because police who searched his home found a spent bullet casing he had picked up at a protest.

A court in January ordered a retrial for the three, without setting a date, but Mohamed is set to stand alone in the dock.

“Their deportation means in effect their innocence,” the 32-year-old producer’s wife said of Greste and Fahmy. “Why should my husband remain in prison?”

His only options are an acquittal or a presidential pardon, which Mr Sisi’s office has said could only come after the retrial, his lawyer Mostafa Nagy said.

Mrs Rashid fears interest in her husband’s case will fade once Fahmy is deported.