Egypt releases, deports journalist jailed in ’13
CAIRO — A reporter for Al-Jazeera English was released from an Egyptian prison and deported Sunday after more than a year behind bars, but his two Egyptian colleagues remained jailed in a case widely condemned as a sham by human-rights groups.
Australian Peter Greste was whisked away on a flight to Cyprus. His release came as a surprise to fellow reporters and activists who spent months pressing for his freedom.
But rights groups and Greste’s Qatar-based broadcaster called on Egypt to release the other two defendants in the case, which has hindered the country’s international standing as it struggles to recover from the political unrest and economic collapse caused by the 2011 uprising.
Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Mohammed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohammed were arrested in December
2013 over their coverage of the violent crackdown on Islamist protests after the military overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi.
Egyptian authorities accused them of providing a platform for Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, now declared a terrorist organization. But authorities provided no concrete evidence. The journalists and their supporters insist they were doing their jobs during a time of violent upheaval.
The three were widely seen as having been caught up in a regional power struggle between Egypt and Qatar, which funds Al-Jazeera and had been a strong backer of Morsi.
A recent decision by Qatar to shut down Al-Jazeera’s Egyptian channel may have helped clear the way for Greste’s release. The decision was part of a reconciliation meeting between Qatar and Egypt brokered by Saudi Arabia. Egypt did not disclose its specific reasons for the release or its timing.
Greste was in a state of disbelief about his freedom and was deeply relieved — but still worried about his imprisoned friends, said his brother Andrew Greste.
“His excitement is tempered and restrained and will be until those guys are free,” Andrew Greste said at a news conference in Brisbane, Australia.
Peter Greste and his brother Mike were still in Cyprus today, and the family was not yet sure when they will return to Australia. Soon after arriving on the Mediterranean island, the brothers indulged in beer and pork — “Two of the rare commodities in an Egyptian prison,” Andrew Greste said.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who had been negotiating for Greste’s release, said today that the journalist had told her by telephone from Egypt that he was desperate to return to his family in Brisbane after spending 400 days in custody.
Australian Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull credited the international pressure on Egypt as well as the lobbying of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
“It was a political decision to imprison him in the first place and a political decision to release him,” Turnbull said in Sydney.
An Egyptian prison official and the nation’s official news agency said Greste was released after a presidential “approval.” The official and an Interior Ministry statement said he was released under a deportation law passed last year. The law appeared to have been tailored to the Al-Jazeera case.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. There was no word on the fate of the other two defendants.
Acting Al-Jazeera Director-General Mostefa Souag said the Qatar-based network “will not rest until [Mohammed] and [Fahmy] also regain their freedom.”
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, welcomed the news of Greste’s release but said “nothing can make up for his ordeal” and called for the others to be released.
Canada also welcomed the “positive developments,” saying it was hopeful that Fahmy’s case would be “resolved shortly,” according to a statement from the office of the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Consular.
The three were convicted on terrorism charges and of spreading false information, accused of faking reports to show that the country was on the verge of civil war and aiding the Brotherhood’s goal of portraying Egypt as a failed state.
Mohammed received an additional three years for his possession of a spent bullet he had picked up as a souvenir. Three other foreign reporters received 10-year sentences in absentia. Twelve other co-defendants were sentenced to between seven and 10 years, some of them in absentia.
An appeals court overturned the verdict in January and ordered a retrial. No date has been set for the case.
During the five-month trial, prosecutors presented no evidence backing the charges, at times citing random video footage found with the defendants that even the judge dismissed as irrelevant.
The Al-Jazeera journalists’ arrest was part of a broad crackdown against Islamists in which hundreds have been killed and thousands arrested after the ouster of Morsi. Many of the leading activists behind the 2011 uprising that brought down President Hosni Mubarak have also been jailed for violating a law banning unauthorized protests.
According to a law passed late last year, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi — who as military chief overthrew Morsi amid popular protests against the Islamist leader’s year-long rule — has the power to deport foreign defendants or convicts if it’s considered to be in the interest of national security. The law was seen as providing a potential legal instrument with which to free the journalists.
El-Sissi had repeatedly said he wants to end the case.
Greste, 49, had only been in Egypt for a few weeks when he was detained. Fahmy had taken up his post as an acting bureau chief only a couple of months before his arrest.
Greste spent more than a decade with BBC before joining Al-Jazeera in 2011. Greste’s hometown is Brisbane, Australia, but he now lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
Fahmy, 40, has reported for CNN and The New York Times. He had to put off his marriage plans because of the trial.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, Egyptian officials said they expected that Fahmy would soon be deported to Canada. But he is expected to give up his Egyptian citizenship to obtain his release.
“Egyptian citizenship vs. freedom: take your pick?” Fahmy wrote in a message posted on Twitter.
Mohammed’s wife gave birth while he was in prison. He will not benefit from the deportation law because he does not have another nationality. His wife, Jehane, said she couldn’t imagine that his colleagues would be set free while he languishes in jail.
“They should all be set free. It is the same case,” she said. “Or is this about foreigners and Egyptians?”
The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent nonprofit group, said that as of December there were at least 12 journalists in jail in Egypt. Except for Greste and Fahmy, the rest appear to be Egyptian citizens. Most are linked to Islamist news outlets critical of the current government.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International on Sunday accused Egyptian authorities of intimidating witnesses and whitewashing evidence to cover up the role of security forces in the killing of more than two dozen people during protests last week.
The London-based Amnesty said at least 27 people were killed over three days during protests commemorating the fourth anniversary of the uprising against Mubarak. It said police used excessive force or failed to break up clashes between protesters and residents.
Those killed included a female demonstrator, Shaimaa el-Sabbagh, whose shooting as police dispersed a small, peaceful protest was captured in widely shared footage. A 17-year-old female protester and a 10-year-old were killed during clashes with police in Cairo and Alexandria. Two security men were also killed in the violence.
Based on testimony from protesters, lawyers, witnesses and video footage, Amnesty said security forces used excessive force, repeatedly firing tear gas, birdshot and sometimes bullets “at random into crowds of protesters and bystanders who were posing no threat.”
It also said some among the protesters were armed.
Amnesty said hundreds of protesters have been rounded up and placed in informal detention facilities. It said some had no access to their lawyers for more than 24 hours, a violation of Egyptian law.
Amnesty said prosecutors have ordered witnesses to the killing of el-Sabbagh detained for taking part in unauthorized protests, a move the group said was apparently aimed at intimidating the witnesses.
Egyptian officials did not immediately comment on the report. Information for this article was contributed by Sarah El Deeb, Merrit Kennedy, Robert Gillies, Rod McGuirk, Kristen Gelineau and staff members of The Associated Press and by David D. Kirkpatrick of The New York Times.