Egypt frees two from Al-Jazeera
President pardons 100 ahead of holiday, U.N. gathering
CAIRO — Egypt released two journalists for Al-Jazeera English TV from prison after a presidential pardon Wednesday, in a case that has been widely condemned by human-rights groups and international organizations.
Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohammed were originally arrested in December 2013 and sentenced to three years in prison last month for airing what a court described as “false news” and biased coverage.
Fahmy and Mohammed were released hours after the pardon was announced, and they were dropped off by police in a Cairo suburb. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi pardoned 100 prisoners Wednesday, but it was not immediately clear whether the others had been freed.
Fahmy said he and Mohammed were taken by surprise by the pardon. Speaking shortly after his release, Fahmy said he still “can’t believe it.”
“We have not digested the fact that we are free, we don’t have to worry about anything else,” Fahmy said. “Our families have suffered so much since the beginning of this trial, and we’re very happy that el-Sissi took this action and released us.”
El-Sissi’s pardon of 100 prisoners, including dozens of human-rights activists, came ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha and a day before the Egyptian president is to travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
“To be honest, I anticipated that el-Sissi may release some prisoners, knowing that he’s going to the United Nations,” Fahmy said. “But I didn’t think our names would be included.”
“Where are we going to start? What are we going to do? We’re going to travel the world, we’re going to celebrate, we’re going to party,” he added.
Fahmy’s wife, Marwa Fahmy, said she learned of the news from a TV set that was on at the prison while she was visiting her husband. Standing at Fahmy’s side after his release, Omara said the “bad dream” was over and that “we will have to start our life again.”
The state-run MENA news agency said a third person from the Al-Jazeera case — which included several other defendants along with Australian journalist Peter Greste — also was pardoned but was not identified by name.
Greste was deported earlier this year and was tried in absentia, along with six other Al-Jazeera employees.
In comments to Al-Jazeera English, Greste did not mention whether he was included in the pardon but said, “We have to keep in mind that this is not over until everyone who was caught up in this case has gone free.”
“I don’t know what to say. It is done. Thank God, thank God,” said Fahmy’s brother Adel, speaking by phone from Kuwait.
Al-Jazeera said in a statement that it was “delighted for them both” and added, “It is hard to celebrate though as this whole episode should not have happened in the first place.”
Al-Jazeera Media Network’s acting director-general, Mostefa Souag, said: “The case for seven journalists convicted in absentia continues. They may not be behind bars, but their families and careers have been affected immeasurably.” The statement called on Egypt to quash their cases.
Prominent Egyptian activists Yara Sallam and Sanaa Seif were also among those pardoned, according to MENA. Egyptian presidents usually pardon convicts for health or other reasons ahead of Eid al-Adha, one of the most important holidays on the Islamic calendar.
The long-running trial of the three Al-Jazeera journalists is entangled in a wider political conflict between Egypt and Qatar, where Al-Jazeera is based, after the Egyptian army’s 2013 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood member.
The case began in December 2013, when Egyptian security forces raided the hotel suite used by Al-Jazeera at the time to report from Egypt.
The journalists began using the hotel as a base of operations after the Al-Jazeera English office near Tahrir Square was raided by police. Authorities arrested Fahmy, Greste and Mohammed, later charging them with being part of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which authorities have declared a terrorist organization, and airing falsified footage intended to damage national security.
The three men initially were convicted on June 23, 2014, with Greste and Fahmy sentenced to seven years in prison and Mohammed to 10 years for also being found with a spent bullet casing. That ruling was later overturned on appeal by Egypt’s Court of Cassation, which said the initial proceedings were marred by violations of the defendants’ rights. But a retrial was ordered, ending with last month’s convictions.
An emailed statement from the Egyptian president’s office later Wednesday said the pardons were given to people “who have received final prison verdicts in cases related to breaking a protest law or infringing on the police forces’ actions, in addition to a number of health-related and humanitarian cases.”