Egypt sentences AlJazeera journalists to 7years in jail
By Adetokunbo Fakeye
An Egyptian Court on Monday morning sentenced three AlJazeera journalists to jail.
The court found Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy, and Baher Mohamed guilty of reporting false news and associating with the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Aljazeera had denied the allegations and the world has accused Egyptian authorities of simply clamping down on media freedom.
The twitter hashtag #FreeAJStaff has been used globally to demand the release of the journalists who have been held since December, 2013.
Al jazeera journalists, Greste and Fahmy were sentenced to seven years in jail, while Baher Mohamed was sentenced to an additional three years for possession of ammunition.
Mohamed was in posession of a spent bullet he had found on the ground during a protest.
Other Al Jazeera journalists being tried in absentia were sentenced to 10 years. Their names are: Alaa Bayoumi, Anas Abdel-Wahab Khalawi Hasan, Khaleel Aly Khaleel Bahnasy, Mohamed Fawzi, Dominic Kane and Sue Turton.
Al Jazeera has always rejected the charges against its journalists and maintains their innocence.
Greste, Fahmy and Mohamed were arrested in December in Cairo as they covered the aftermath of the army’s removal of Mohamed Morsi from the presidency in July.
The prosecution said Greste, Al Jazeera’s east Africa correspondent, and his Egypt bureau colleagues aided the Brotherhood and produced false news reports of the situation in Egypt.
The Brotherhood, which supported Morsi, was listed as a “terrorist” organisation by the interim Egyptian government shortly before the accused were arrested.
The prosecution produced a number of items as evidence including a BBC podcast, a news report made while none of the accused were in Egypt, a pop video by the Australian singer, Gotye, and several recordings on non-Egyptian issues.
The defence maintained that the journalists were wrongly arrested and that the prosecution had failed to prove any of the charges against them.
Al Jazeera English managing director Al Anstey said the verdicts defied “logic, sense, and any semblance of justice”.
“Today three colleagues and friends were sentenced, and will continue to be kept behind bars for doing a brilliant job of being great journalists. ‘Guilty’ of covering stories with great skill and integrity. ‘Guilty’ of defending people’s right to know what is going on in their world.
“Peter, Mohamed, and Baher and six of our other colleagues were sentenced despite the fact that not a shred of evidence was found to support the extraordinary and false charges against them. At no point during the long drawn out ‘trial’ did the absurd allegations stand up to scrutiny.
“There is only one sensible outcome now – for the verdict to be overturned, and justice to be recognised by Egypt.”
Source: Al JAZEERA