Al-Jazeera reporters freed on bail
CAIRO: An Egyptian judge ordered a pair of Al-Jazeera English journalists released on bail yesterday as their retrial on terrorrelated charges continues.
The decision comes less than two weeks after the deportation of the reporters’ Australian colleague, Peter Greste, under a new law allowing Egypt’s president to deport foreign defendants or convicts.
Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy, who recently renounced his Egyptian citizenship, is widely expected to be similarly deported. Fahmy was ordered to pay 250,000 Egyptian pounds (1 million baht) in bail, far more than any of the other defendants.
A third Al-Jazeera English defendant, Baher Mohammed, holds no foreign citizenship and is not eligible for the deportation option. He and the remaining defendants — 11 mostly students charged with involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood — are being freed without bail. The next session in the retrial is scheduled for Feb 23.
The families of defendants cheered the decision.
The fiancé of Fahmy, Marwa Omara, broke down in tears, and cried: “Love live Justice.”
She told reporters: “I am very happy. It is a rebirth for me and Mohamed.” She said they will plan their long delayed wedding now that Fahmy is to be released.
The wife of Mohammed also broke down in tears. “I am happy but my happiness is incomplete until he gets acquitted.” Mohammed’s wife delivered a child while he was in detention.
Judge Hassan Farid ordered the defendants not to leave “their homeland” and to report to their local police station each morning.
The Al-Jazeera English j ournalists spent more than a year over terror-related charges. They were initially sentenced to at least seven years in prison before a retrial was ordered.
Fahmy and Mohammed were in court yesterday behind a soundproof glass cage for the first time — a recent feature in Egyptian courts, as authorities seek to limit the ability of defendants to protest or interrupt proceedings.
The judge controls when the defendants can be heard through a microphone, and families and lawyers complained that it was hard to see them inside the courtroom cage.