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Egypt court delays al-Jazeera verdict Egypt court delays al-Jazeera verdict
(about 4 hours later)
An Egyptian court has postponed its verdict in the retrial of three al-Jazeera journalists, lawyers have said, dashing their hopes for an end to a legal ordeal that sparked a global outcry. A long-awaited verdict in the retrial of Al-Jazeera journalists charged in Egypt was unexpectedly delayed on Thursday, with two of the defendants barred from entering the court.
A lawyer for one of the defendants, Baher Mohamed, said on Thursday he had been informed that the session would not take place. The Dutch ambassador in Cairo, who was to attend the trial, tweeted it had been postponed to 8 August. Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed had arrived at Cairo’s Tora prison – where the trial is being held – on Thursday morning, expecting their 18-month ordeal to come to an end. But they were blocked from going inside.
An al-Jazeera Media Network spokesperson tweeted: “We are extremely angry that the verdict has been adjourned today.” Their struggle for justice has been at the heart of a battle over press freedom in Egypt and saw them spend more than 400 days in jail before being released in January and granted a retrial. A third al-Jazeera English journalist, Peter Greste, was deported to Australia in February.
Related: Al-Jazeera journalists celebrate welcome turn in Egyptian retrialRelated: Al-Jazeera journalists celebrate welcome turn in Egyptian retrial
The cause of the postponement was not immediately clear. There was no official confirmation or response from Egyptian judicial authorities. Fahmy said he just wanted the trial to be over. “It’s toying with our emotions and it’s very insulting. Our families have been tormented for the past week. I don’t sleep much,” Fahmy told journalists outside the prison. “We were just hoping this would be over.”
Mohamed Fahmy, a naturalised Canadian who has given up his Egyptian citizenship, and Egyptian Mohamed were previously charged with aiding a terrorist organisation, a reference to the banned Muslim Brotherhood. A third al-Jazeera journalist, the Australian Peter Greste, was deported in February. “How can they postpone a very important hearing to us and for journalism and not even inform the lawyers?” asked Mohamed, also standing outside the prison gates. “The officers are telling me nobody came. No trial, everything was postponed.”
Security officials at the prison offered no explanation for the postponement. According to Al-Watan, a privately owned Egyptian newspaper, the trial will resume on 8 August, although that could not be immediately confirmed.
The two defendants, their supporters, and a small crowd of journalists had no choice but to wait for further information outside the prison walls. Fahmy provided some relief to the tense atmosphere when he announced he and his fiancee, Marwa Omara, had been married. “It’s been a dream of ours that we spoke about,” he said, smiling alongside Omara and Mohamed.
However, his speech lasted less than a minute: Fahmy was interrupted by a scowling plainclothes official who ordered the couple and the assembled press to leave the entrance, forcing them on to the side of a highway.
Fahmy, Greste and Mohamed were arrested in December 2013 and charged with aiding a terrorist organisation, a reference to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, and broadcasting “false news”.
The Brotherhood was outlawed in Egypt after the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi following mass protests against his rule in 2013.The Brotherhood was outlawed in Egypt after the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi following mass protests against his rule in 2013.
The journalists were originally sentenced to between seven and 10 years in prison on charges including spreading lies to help a terrorist organisation, which they have denied. The men were sentenced to between seven and 10 years in prison at their initial trial in 2014. An appeals court later ordered the retrial, with Fahmy and Mohamed put on bail. Greste is being retried in absentia.
Egypt’s high court ordered a retrial in January.