Arrested al-Jazeera journalist's health causing concern, says Egyptian lawyer
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Version 0 of 1. Lawyers monitoring the cases of three journalists arrested in Cairo late on Sunday have expressed concern over the health of Mohamed Fahmy, a Canadian citizen, who is to be moved from the city's Torah prison to a hospital facility. Fahmy, al-Jazeera English's Cairo bureau chief, and two other employees of the channel are accused of spreading "false news" and being members of a "terrorist cell". Ragia Omran, a lawyer for the Cairo-based Arab Human Rights Institute who visited Fahmy in prison on Wednesday, said his shoulder, already dislocated from a previous fall, had been fractured when the detainees were transported to Cairo's Qasr en-Nil police station for interrogation. "He is in pain and sleeps on the floor in a maximum security prison, which is bad for a broken shoulder," she said. She added that he was being denied the one hour of exercise that Egyptian prisons are legally required to allow detainees. Fahmy was arrested in a raid on a makeshift office suite in Cairo's Marriott hotel along with Peter Greste, a veteran Australian reporter, freelance producer Baher Mohamed and cameraman Mohamed Fawzy, who has since been released. On Tuesday, Egyptian prosecutors ordered the three detained journalists to be held in custody for 15 more days, The charges against them have met with widespread condemnation, raising fears that the space for criticism is growing increasingly narrow under Egypt's new military-backed government. Fahmy's interrogation will continue on Saturday, and is expected to take place under the supervision of Canadian embassy officials. The Qatari-owned al-Jazeera network has faced mounting pressure from the Egyptian authorities since the former president Mohamed Morsi was deposed in a military takeover on 3 July. A statement from the office of the prosecutor general, Hisham Barakat, accuses the journalists of setting up a media network with the aim of "tarnishing Egypt's image abroad and harming Egypt's image abroad and harming its political position". They are also accused of belonging to a "terrorist" Muslim Brotherhood cell. The Brotherhood, Egypt's political masters until just five months ago, was formally designated a terrorist organisation after a Christmas Day attack on a security headquarters left 16 people dead and more than 100 injured. Egypt's government has been unable to provide evidence linking the Brotherhood to the attack. Responsibility has instead been claimed by Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, a North Sinai-based jihadist group. Al-Jazeera's Egyptian outlet, al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr, is one of the few remaining channels perceived as sympathetic to the Brotherhood. But representatives of al-Jazeera English have emphasised its independence from the network's other channels, arguing that the arrest of Fahmy and his team was politically motivated at a time when the government is particularly sensitive to criticism. "At the end of the day, these were just journalists doing their job," said Bernard Smith, an al-Jazeera journalist who regularly works in Cairo. "Although we were working perfectly legally, we were forced, for our own personal safety, to take temporary offices in [the Marriott]." The Egyptian authorities have argued that the journalists had no legal right to be operating from the temporary suites. "The Egyptian government is equating legitimate journalistic work with acts of terrorism in its efforts to censor critical news coverage," said Sherif Mansour, Middle East and north Africa co-ordinator at the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). "We condemn these arrests and call upon Egyptian authorities to release the journalists immediately." Egypt's state information service denied any political motivation behind the arrests. It said the men had been working without the correct press accreditation. But the detentions come amid a deepening crackdown against media outlets that do not toe the government line. In 2013, Egypt was among the most prolific jailers of journalists in the world, according to a recent CPJ survey. Thousands of Morsi supporters have been killed and yet more have been arrested since he was ousted in July. Egypt's prison sector is now reaching full capacity. This week, 139 Morsi supporters were sentenced to two years in prison for rioting and sabotage. Rights groups have condemned the ongoing prosecutions, arguing that defendants are routinely denied due process and often face fabricated charges. The upper echelons of the Brotherhood's leadership have been decimated by the crackdown, as the Egyptian authorities pursue a "decapitation strategy" that aims to disrupt the structure of the organisation. Egypt's interim government has also ordered that the assets of more than 500 Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist leaders seized. As the crackdown continues, Egypt's interim government is pushing forward with a political roadmap that will end with fresh parliamentary and presidential elections. The military have vowed to confront "the forces of terrorism and darkness" and protect the country's upcoming constitutional referendum, scheduled for 14 and 15 January. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |