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Egypt pardons and releases jailed al-Jazeera journalists Egypt pardons and releases jailed al-Jazeera journalists
(about 2 hours later)
Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, has pardoned two of the three journalists working for al-Jazeera English who were convicted of airing “false news” and biased coverage. Egypt has pardoned and released two Al-Jazeera journalists who had been jailed for disseminating “false news” in a trial widely criticised as a political charade by human rights groups and international observers.
Mohamed Fahmy, a Canadian national, and his Egyptian colleague Baher Mohamed were released from prison after being pardoned along with about 100 other people. Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian national Baher Mohamed were pardoned by the president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, along with about 100 other prisoners, including activists and a poet.
Egyptian presidents have traditionally freed prisoners for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which is celebrated this week. But the latest releases also come on the eve of a trip to New York by Sisi, who will attend the UN general assembly where he would likely have faced questions about the controversial case.
Fahmy, who was released outside his old high-school, said he was preparing to celebrate freedom. His lawyer, Amal Clooney, welcomed the decision to correct “a long-standing injustice” but said her client had endured a protracted ordeal.
A friend, journalist Samer al-Atrush, posted pictures of Fahmy, his wife and Mohamed shortly after the men were released, and while they were still wearing prison clothes.
It was not clear if Sisi also pardoned a third journalist, Australian Peter Greste, who had been on trial with his colleagues and spent 400 days in an Egyptian jail before being deported in February under a law allowing prisoners to serve out detentions in their home countries.
The state-run MENA news agency said a third person from the al-Jazeera case had been pardoned, but there were several other foreign defendants beside Greste who avoided jail because they were outside Egypt when police arrested the three men.
“Reminder that as well as Baher and Fahmy, there are seven other [al-Jazeera journalists] convicted in absentia whose lives have been affected,” the network’s spokesman Osama Saeed said on Twitter.
Guess who I ran into in Maadi after police randomly dropped them off outside a highschool pic.twitter.com/nmqg6AGMypGuess who I ran into in Maadi after police randomly dropped them off outside a highschool pic.twitter.com/nmqg6AGMyp
The pardons came a day before Sisi plans to head to New York for the 70th session of the UN general assembly. Fahmy, Mhamed and Greste had been arrested at the end of 2013 in a Marriott hotel they were using as a temporary base after their main office had been raided by police.
Fahmy’s lawyer, Khaled Abu Bakr, confirmed the pardon and said his client was a “professional and innocent journalist”. They were originally jailed for seven to 10 years each on charges of aiding terrorists and endangering national security after a bizarre trial in which the prosecution failed to produce evidence of wrongdoing.
It was unclear whether Peter Greste, an Australian colleague at al-Jazeera who was deported in February, had also been pardoned. Instead, their case included footage from channels and events that had nothing to do with Egyptian politics or al-Jazeera, ranging from videos of trotting horses from Sky News Arabia to a song by the Australian singer Gotye and a BBC documentary from Somalia.
In December 2014, an appeal court ordered a re-trial, and early in 2015 the men were bailed, and Greste deported. Hopes that their long-running ordeal was coming to an end were dashed last month, however, when another judge found them men guilty of airing what court documents described as “false news” and biased coverage. He sentenced them to three years each.
Amazing night on #MediaCircus, recording the show when Peter Greste heard that his colleagues had been pardoned. pic.twitter.com/wNXGGuIMbqAmazing night on #MediaCircus, recording the show when Peter Greste heard that his colleagues had been pardoned. pic.twitter.com/wNXGGuIMbq
All three were sentenced to three years in prison last month in a verdict denounced by rights groups and news organisations as an assault on press freedom. The case had drawn condemnation from around the world, including from the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and Australia’s new prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who had promised Greste he would push for a pardon.
Greste, who was sentenced in absentia, said at the time that the sentences were outrageous. “The prosecution presented no evidence that we did anything wrong and so for us to be convicted as terrorists on no evidence at all is frankly outrageous,” he told ABC television. “We have to keep fighting.” A spokeswoman for Canada’s foreign affairs department, Rachna Mishra, reportedly said Canada was pleased with the pardon and would help facilitate Fahmy’s departure. “We look forward to Mr Fahmy reuniting with his family and loved ones, and his return to Canada,” she told AP.
The long-running trial was entangled in the wider political conflict between Egypt and Qatar, where al-Jazeera is based, following the Egyptian army’s ousting in 2013 of the Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi. Fahmy gave up his Egyptian nationality during the trial in hope of being deported to Canada.
Evidence presented at the trial ventured into the absurd, including music videos and footage of animals, which defence lawyers and even the judge dismissed as irrelevant. Third-party observers said no evidence proved the charges. Critics described the case as politically motivated. He has also distanced himself from al-Jazeera, where he worked for the English-language channel, accusing the network of placing him and his colleagues in danger, lying about the channel’s legal status in Egypt and displaying editorial bias in favour of Islamists. He is suing the network for damages in a Canadian court.
The men were seeking a pardon from Sisi, who has previously expressed regret over the trial and the damage it has done to Egypt’s reputation, saying it would have been better to simply deport all the journalists. Additional reporting by Jahd Khalil in Cairo
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 Mohamed, later charging them with allegedly being part of the Muslim Brotherhood, and airing falsified footage intended to damage national security.
The three men initially were convicted on 23 June 2014, with Greste and Fahmy sentenced to seven years in prison and Mohamed 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, the final stage of criminal appeals, which said the initial proceedings were marred by violations of the defendants’ rights. However, a retrial was ordered, ending with August’s convictions.
Associated Press contributed to this report