The court found Peter Greste (Correspondent), Mohamed Fahmy
(Producer), and Baher Mohamed (Producer) guilty of reporting false news and
associating with the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Baher Mohammed was sentenced to an additional three years for
being in possession of spent cartridge.
The three journalists have been held in Egyptian prison since
December, 2013.
Six other Al Jazeera staff, charged in absentia, were
sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Al Jazeera had provided extensive coverage of the protests in
Egypt following the coup that ousted former president Mohammed Morsi, a member
of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The coverage showed, among others, how Egyptian security
agencies killed hundreds of peaceful protesters in sit-ins in Cairo. The
protesters were demanding the release and reinstatement of Mr. Morsi.
Egypt, which was suspended from the African Union, AU,
following the coup, was only recently readmitted following the election of
Abdulfatah Al-Sisi as president.
Mr. Al-Sisi, an Army General, and then head of the Egyptian
Army, carried out the coup against Mr. Morsi and is believed to have ordered
the killings of the hundreds of peaceful protesters; whose demonstration were
well covered by Al Jazeera.
Aljazeera has denied the allegations against its journalists
and several world leaders including the UN Secretary General have called for
the release of the journalists.
The twitter hashtag #FreeAJStaff has been used globally to
demand the release of the journalists.
The Australian government has already condemned the
sentencing, particularly of Mr. Greste, who is an Australian.
The Australian government “urges the new government of Egypt
to reflect on what message being sent to the world on the situation in Egypt,”
the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, said.
Ms. Bishop said the Australian government was “deeply
dismayed” that the court could come up with a guilty verdict on the
journalists, saying “We (Australian government) are appalled by the severity of
it.”
Al Jazeera also quotes its English managing director, Al
Anstey, as saying the verdicts defied “logic, sense, and any semblance of
justice”.
“Today three colleagues and friends were sentenced, and will
continue to be kept behind bars for doing a brilliant job of being great
journalists. ‘Guilty’ of covering
stories with great skill and integrity. ‘Guilty’ of defending people’s right to
know what is going on in their world.
“Peter, Mohamed, and Baher and six of our other colleagues
were sentenced despite the fact that not a shred of evidence was found to
support the extraordinary and false charges against them. At no point during the long drawn out ‘trial’
did the absurd allegations stand up to scrutiny.
“There is only one sensible outcome now – for the verdict to
be overturned, and justice to be recognized by Egypt.”
No comments:
Post a Comment