An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced three Al Jazeera
journalists to three years in prison after a lengthy retrial.
Mohamed Fahmy
and Baher Mohamed were present for the proceedings, with the latter given an
additional six months in prison and a fine of 5,000 Egyptian pounds ($640.)
Australian Al
Jazeera journalist Peter Greste, who was deported
from Egypt in February 2015, was sentenced in absentia.
The journalists
were charged with aiding a terrorist organization, a reference to the Muslim
Brotherhood, which was outlawed in Egypt after the army overthrew President
Mohamed Morsy amid mass protests against his rule in 2013.
The judge didn't
mention terrorism on Saturday. The court confirmed over 13 sessions that the
defendants are not journalists and worked without a broadcast license, Judge
Hassan Farid said. "They broadcast video footage that contained false news
and aired it after editing it on Al Jazeera with the aim of harming the
country," he said.
The defendants
have said they were just doing their jobs, covering all sides of the stories in
Egypt.
Al Jazeera Media Network's acting director general Mostefa Souag
condemned the verdict, saying it "defies logic and common sense" and
follows a heavily politicized and unfair trial process.
The court's
ruling means Fahmy and Mohamed must return to prison, he said.
"Today's
verdict is yet another deliberate attack on press freedom. It is a dark day for
the Egyptian judiciary; rather than defend liberties and a free and fair media
they have compromised their independence for political reasons."
All three were convicted last year on charges that included
conspiring with the Brotherhood, spreading false news and endangering national
security, but they have maintained their innocence.
The three
appealed their convictions, and in January their attorneys announced that
Egypt's highest court had granted them a retrial and they were released on
bail.
The reasoning
for the court's verdict has not yet been released.
Announcing the
decision, the judge listed several charges he said had been confirmed --
including that the three were not registered journalists, possessed unlicensed
broadcast equipment and broadcast footage containing "false news."
Greste: No evidence to support charges
Greste voiced his anger over the verdict
via Twitter and in an interview with CNN from Sydney.
"I'm absolutely devastated by this verdict," he said.
"There is no basis whatsoever in evidence to confirm any of the
charges."
Every
independent observer who followed the trial, including diplomats, legal
experts, lawyers and journalists, "has confirmed that there was never any
evidence presented in court whatsoever to substantiate the allegations,"
Greste said.
"And so far
as I'm concerned, the only conclusion we can come to is that this verdict was
politically motivated."
If Egypt issues
an international arrest warrant, Greste said, he won't be able to travel to any
country that has an extradition treaty with Egypt.
This will
devastate his career as a foreign correspondent, he said, "but that really
is a minor inconvenience compared with what my colleagues are having to go
through."
Mohamed has
three young children, one of them only a year old, as well as a wife, said
Greste, while Fahmy also has a new wife he will leave behind.
Both Mohamed
Fahmy and Baher Mohamed will be able to appeal the verdicts in a higher court,
but Greste will not because he was not physically present in court.
However, the
Australian said he would be using every means at his disposal -- political,
legal and diplomatic -- to try to clear his name and right this injustice,
backed by Australia's Foreign Ministry.
In a statement on her official website, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said
she was "dismayed" by the court's decision and said she would
"continue to pursue all diplomatic avenues with my Egyptian counterpart to
clear (Greste's) name."
Clooney: 'Really disappointed'
Greste also said he would seek to ensure
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi lives up to past promises that he would
pardon the Al Jazeera journalists when the opportunity arose.
At the time the
journalists made contact with the Muslim Brotherhood, it was not a banned
organization, Greste added. The three were simply carrying out responsible
journalism as they sought to make sense of a time of great political turmoil
for the Al Jazeera English channel, he said.
Fahmy's wife,
Marwa Omara, broke down in tears as the sentence was announced.
"The
verdict was extremely unjust and was extremely unfair," she said.
His lawyer Amal
Clooney, wife of Hollywood star George Clooney, said the verdict was an
outrage.
"We are
really disappointed," she said.
"Everyone
who has looked at this case, every independent third party has said there is no
evidence whatsoever of any criminal wrongdoing. The U.N. has said it, the EU
has said it, the U.S., the UK [and] other governments."
Rights group: 'Farcical verdict'
Amnesty International also condemned the
court's ruling, saying the charges against the journalists were baseless and
politicized.
"This is a
farcical verdict which strikes at the heart of freedom of expression in
Egypt," said Philip Luther, the rights group's director for the Middle
East and North Africa.
"Today's
verdict must be overturned immediately -- Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed
should be allowed to walk free without conditions. We consider them to be
prisoners of conscience, jailed solely for exercising their right to freedom of
expression."
Amnesty
International also urged the Egyptian authorities to facilitate Fahmy's request
for deportation from Egypt to Canada.
Fahmy gave up
his Egyptian citizenship in hopes of benefiting from a new law allowing for the
deportation of foreign defendants but, unlike in the case of Greste, no
presidential decree has been issued for him.
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