An Egyptian Court on Monday convicted three journalists from Al-Jazeera English and sentenced them to seven years in prison each on charges including helping a “terrorist organisation” by publishing lies. The sentence brought extensive criticism as the verdict was a blow to freedom of expression. The crime is supporting the “Muslim Brotherhood”. The prosecution offered not one shred of evidence to support the charge. Al-Jazeera is a biased channel from their point of view. The Aussies must realise that they are not Americans or Europeans to be treated with kid’s gloves. Australians are nobody and therefore when they try to sledge, they get slapped. Australians must understand their protest is irrelevant and they are not a superpower. It’s a puppet court run by military’s inexperienced ignorant judiciary. This is an example of low standards and nothing else by the Cairo circus. This generally happens when a Fascist Government comes in power. Their intension is ‘To silence the public, first silence the Media’. Pay a media and if they are not ‘becow,’ (non-saleable) then jail them.
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is a Sunni Islamist religious, political, and social movement. It is, or was, considered the largest, best-organised political force in Egypt, estimated by different sources to millions of adherents and supporters. This organisation was founded in Egypt by Hassan al-Banna in March 1928; the group spread to other Muslim countries but has its largest, or one of its largest, organisations in Egypt despite a succession of government crackdowns in 1948, 1954, 1965, 2013 after plots, or alleged plots, of assassination and overthrow were uncovered. Following the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, it first had great success. It launched a civic political party—the Freedom and Justice Party—to contest elections, which it described as having “the same mission and goals, but different roles” than the Brotherhood, and agreeing to honour all Egypt’s international agreements. The party won almost half the seats in the 2011–12 parliamentary elections, and its candidate, Mohamed Morsi, won the June 2012 presidential election. However, Morsi was overthrown after mass protests within a year and a crackdown ensued that some have called more damaging to the movement than any “in eight decades”. Hundreds of members were killed or arrested, and Morsi along with most of the Brotherhood’s leadership were imprisoned. In September 2013, Egyptian court banned the Brotherhood and its associations and ordered that its assets be seized. The military-backed interim government declared the movement a terrorist group following the December 2013 Mansoura bombing.
This is not the first time that the Al-Jazeera journalists were prosecuted. It is so amazingly absurd when the west shouts hoarse demanding Freedom of Expression for journalists. Where is Freedom of Expression, when it was being practiced against them? Freedom of Expression was not allowed to be used post 9/11, during Afghan war and during Iraq war. Where was Freedom of Expression, when Teyseer Aluni was thrown behind bars for just filming with Osama? He too was an Al-Jazeera journalist. The sentences were given to Australian correspondent Peter Greste, Canadian-Egyptian acting Cairo bureau chief Mohammed Fahmy, and Egyptian producer Baher Mohammed, who also received an extra three years in prison on separate charges. The judge also handed 10-year sentences to two British journalists and a Dutch journalist who were not in Egypt and are being tried in absentia. Two defendants among 14 others on trial in the case were acquitted, including the son of Mohammed el-Beltagy, a senior figure in the Muslim Brotherhood. Greste, Fahmy and Mohammed were arrested in December in a raid in the Cairo hotel room they were using as an office, as part of a sweeping crackdown on Islamist supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi.
They were accused of supporting Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which the authorities have declared a terrorist organisation. They also face charges of fabricating footage to undermine Egypt’s national security and make it appear like the country was facing civil war. The prosecution has offered little evidence to back up the charges against them. The three and their supporters have said they were simply doing their jobs as journalists, covering the wave of protests led by the Brotherhood against the military-backed government installed after Morsi was ousted on July 3 by then-army chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who is now the president. The police crackdown on the protests has killed hundreds and put thousands more in prison. The prosecution provided little evidence in the case, showing video footage found in their possession – most of which had nothing to do with the case, including a report on a veterinary hospital in Cairo, Christian life and old footage of Greste from previous assignments elsewhere in Africa.
The managing director of Qatar-based Al-Jazeera English, Al Anstey, said in a statement that “not a shred of evidence was found to support the extraordinary and false charges against them.” “To have detained them for 177 days is an outrage. To have sentenced them defies logic, sense, and any semblance of justice,” he said.
