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| Peter Greste: Egypt's press lost its freedom when my al-Jazeera colleagues and I lost ours | |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| What is a journalist? It’s a fundamental question to be sure, and the answer is increasingly the subject of fierce debate as social media blurs the lines between traditional and citizen journalists. But surely the most uncontroversial definition must be that a journalist is someone who is accredited with a recognised news organisation, and who has produced a body of credible, accurate and balanced work – whether printed or broadcast – generally recognised as “journalism”. | What is a journalist? It’s a fundamental question to be sure, and the answer is increasingly the subject of fierce debate as social media blurs the lines between traditional and citizen journalists. But surely the most uncontroversial definition must be that a journalist is someone who is accredited with a recognised news organisation, and who has produced a body of credible, accurate and balanced work – whether printed or broadcast – generally recognised as “journalism”. |
| Related: Amal Clooney calls on Egypt to pardon Peter Greste and al-Jazeera colleagues | Related: Amal Clooney calls on Egypt to pardon Peter Greste and al-Jazeera colleagues |
| Yet a court in Egypt has found that my two colleagues and I are not legitimate journalists. Late last month the court decided that because we were not accredited with the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate – the body that manages local media workers – we could not be described as journalists. Never mind that the syndicate’s lawyer told the court that the law did not require foreign correspondents to register, and that it would happily register us retrospectively anyway, to confirm that in its view we really were “journalists”. | |
| The court went on to find that we violated a host of regulations around the licensing of equipment, and that we broadcast false news to undermine national security. It then sentenced my colleague Mohammed Fahmy and me to three years in prison, and added an extra six months to sentence of the third member of our team, Baher Mohammed, because he had a single bullet that he had picked up off the battlefield in Libya as a souvenir. | The court went on to find that we violated a host of regulations around the licensing of equipment, and that we broadcast false news to undermine national security. It then sentenced my colleague Mohammed Fahmy and me to three years in prison, and added an extra six months to sentence of the third member of our team, Baher Mohammed, because he had a single bullet that he had picked up off the battlefield in Libya as a souvenir. |
| In response to the criticism of the verdict, the interior ministry said that we had been convicted of specific violations of the law and that it had nothing to do with press freedom. And to underline its point, the ministry explained that thousands of other foreign and local journalists were working in Egypt freely. | In response to the criticism of the verdict, the interior ministry said that we had been convicted of specific violations of the law and that it had nothing to do with press freedom. And to underline its point, the ministry explained that thousands of other foreign and local journalists were working in Egypt freely. |
| Of course that last fact is at least partly true. Thousands of journalists are working in Egypt without being thrown in prison. But let’s stop for a moment and ask what our case means for them. | Of course that last fact is at least partly true. Thousands of journalists are working in Egypt without being thrown in prison. But let’s stop for a moment and ask what our case means for them. |
| As every independent observer to the trial has noted, the prosecutor failed to present a single piece of evidence to substantiate the allegations against us. Remember, the news that we broadcast, the false news in the court’s judgment, is by definition a matter of public record. It’s out there on the internet freely available for anyone who wants to check it for themselves. As any reporter who has been loose with the facts well knows, social media has made it almost impossible to get away with publishing “false” news for very long, let alone the 20 months that have passed since we were arrested in December 2013. And yet nobody, least of all the prosecutor, has been able to show us that anything we produced was either false or falsified in any sense of those words. | As every independent observer to the trial has noted, the prosecutor failed to present a single piece of evidence to substantiate the allegations against us. Remember, the news that we broadcast, the false news in the court’s judgment, is by definition a matter of public record. It’s out there on the internet freely available for anyone who wants to check it for themselves. As any reporter who has been loose with the facts well knows, social media has made it almost impossible to get away with publishing “false” news for very long, let alone the 20 months that have passed since we were arrested in December 2013. And yet nobody, least of all the prosecutor, has been able to show us that anything we produced was either false or falsified in any sense of those words. |
| So in the absence of evidence, most observers have concluded that our convictions were politically motivated; that our arrest, trial and imprisonment were intended to send a message. We don’t know explicitly what that message was, but it is pretty clear how any journalist watching the trial will interpret it. | So in the absence of evidence, most observers have concluded that our convictions were politically motivated; that our arrest, trial and imprisonment were intended to send a message. We don’t know explicitly what that message was, but it is pretty clear how any journalist watching the trial will interpret it. |
| The US State Department said it was “deeply disappointed” by the verdict, which “undermines the very freedom of expression necessary for stability and development”. | The US State Department said it was “deeply disappointed” by the verdict, which “undermines the very freedom of expression necessary for stability and development”. |
| Related: 'Devastated' Peter Greste calls on Egypt's president to pardon trio | |
| A spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights said: “We are very disturbed by these three sentences and the extra pressure it creates on journalists in Egypt who are just trying to do their jobs.” | A spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights said: “We are very disturbed by these three sentences and the extra pressure it creates on journalists in Egypt who are just trying to do their jobs.” |
| And according to the European Union, the verdict represented “a setback for freedom of expression in Egypt”. | And according to the European Union, the verdict represented “a setback for freedom of expression in Egypt”. |
| Of course Egypt has a problem of security. It is fighting extremists in the Sinai peninsula who’ve declared allegiance to Islamic State (Isis). There are routine bombings and attacks on the security services. On the day of one of our last hearings, the prosecutor general – equivalent to Australia’s attorney general – was assassinated in a roadside bomb blast. But the ultimate question has to be whether silencing the press helps or hinders the fight to control that kind of violent extremism. | Of course Egypt has a problem of security. It is fighting extremists in the Sinai peninsula who’ve declared allegiance to Islamic State (Isis). There are routine bombings and attacks on the security services. On the day of one of our last hearings, the prosecutor general – equivalent to Australia’s attorney general – was assassinated in a roadside bomb blast. But the ultimate question has to be whether silencing the press helps or hinders the fight to control that kind of violent extremism. |
| Let me be clear. I am not advocating for the right to publish anything that incites violence. I am not saying we need to give free rein to anybody who wants to run appalling Isis snuff videos. I’m not suggesting that we ought to be allowed to give an open microphone to anybody who advocates hatred and bigotry. | Let me be clear. I am not advocating for the right to publish anything that incites violence. I am not saying we need to give free rein to anybody who wants to run appalling Isis snuff videos. I’m not suggesting that we ought to be allowed to give an open microphone to anybody who advocates hatred and bigotry. |
| But we have also learned the hard way that stable, properly functioning democracies need a free, untrammelled press capable of interrogating extremist views in any form, with as much force and vigour as it does the governments who act in our names. | But we have also learned the hard way that stable, properly functioning democracies need a free, untrammelled press capable of interrogating extremist views in any form, with as much force and vigour as it does the governments who act in our names. |
| Related: Peter Greste calls for universal charter of media freedoms | |
| Even the Egyptian constitution acknowledges that vital function. Article 70 guarantees “freedom of press and printing, along with paper, visual, audio and digital distribution”. Article 71 prohibits censorship and explicitly states “no custodial sanction shall be imposed for crimes committed by way of publication or the public nature thereof”. | Even the Egyptian constitution acknowledges that vital function. Article 70 guarantees “freedom of press and printing, along with paper, visual, audio and digital distribution”. Article 71 prohibits censorship and explicitly states “no custodial sanction shall be imposed for crimes committed by way of publication or the public nature thereof”. |
| And yet Baher and Fahmy are back in prison, and I and six other al-Jazeera journalists convicted in absentia during our first trial run the risk of being sent back to Cairo to serve out our sentences whenever we cross an international border. | And yet Baher and Fahmy are back in prison, and I and six other al-Jazeera journalists convicted in absentia during our first trial run the risk of being sent back to Cairo to serve out our sentences whenever we cross an international border. |
| Every other reporter working in Egypt has that uncomfortable fact sitting in the backs of their minds each time they put pen to paper. It doesn’t take great insight to understand the impact that has on the freedom of expression. | Every other reporter working in Egypt has that uncomfortable fact sitting in the backs of their minds each time they put pen to paper. It doesn’t take great insight to understand the impact that has on the freedom of expression. |
| Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, has said several times that if we were ever convicted, he would consider pardons. The court has made a grave error of judgment that can only have a chilling effect on press freedom, and set back Egypt’s democracy. We urge him to use his power to undo the injustice, free the men who’ve been innocently imprisoned and clear the names of everyone caught up in this case. | Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, has said several times that if we were ever convicted, he would consider pardons. The court has made a grave error of judgment that can only have a chilling effect on press freedom, and set back Egypt’s democracy. We urge him to use his power to undo the injustice, free the men who’ve been innocently imprisoned and clear the names of everyone caught up in this case. |
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