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Al Jazeera staff sentenced to jail in Egypt

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Condemnation of verdict as Egypt court finds Baher Mohamed, Mohamed Fahmy, and Peter Greste guilty in delayed trial.

Al Jazeera retrial

by Al Jazeera

A Cairo court has sentenced three Al Jazeera journalists to three years in jail after finding them guilty of “aiding a terrorist organisation”.

Egyptian Baher Mohamed, Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Australian Peter Greste were all handed three-year jail sentences when the court delivered the verdict on Saturday, sparking worldwide outrage.

Mohamed was sentenced to an additional six months for possession of a spent bullet casing.

The journalists had been initially found guilty in June 2014 of aiding a “terrorist organisation”, a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, which was outlawed in Egypt after the army overthrew President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Judge Hassan Farid, in his ruling on Saturday, said he sentenced the men to prison at least partly because they had not registered with the country’s journalist “syndicate”.

He also said the men brought in equipment without security officials’ approval, had broadcast “false news” on Al Jazeera and used a hotel as a broadcasting point without permission.

The verdict was immediately condemned by Al Jazeera Media Network’s Acting Director General Dr Mostefa Souag, who said: “Today’s verdict defies logic and common sense. Our colleagues Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy will now have to return to prison, and Peter Greste is sentenced in absentia.

“The whole case has been heavily politicised and has not been conducted in a free and fair manner.”

Dr Souag continued, “There is no evidence proving that our colleagues in any way fabricated news or aided and abetted terrorist organisations, and at no point during the long drawn out retrial did any of the unfounded allegations stand up to scrutiny.

“A report issued by a technical committee assigned by the court in Egypt contradicted the accusations made by the public prosecutor and stated in its report that the seized videos were not fabricated.

“Baher, Peter and Mohamed have been sentenced despite the fact that not a shred of evidence was found to support the extraordinary and false charges against them.

“Today’s verdict is yet another deliberate attack on press freedom. It is a dark day for the Egyptian judiciary; rather than defend liberties and a free and fair media, they have compromised their independence for political reasons.”

Speaking from Sydney, Greste labelled the verdict “outrageous”.

“We did nothing wrong. The court presented no evidence. For us to be convicted as terrorists is outrageous. It can only be a political verdict. This is unethical,” Greste said.

Al Jazeera’s next step is to file an appeal before the Court of Cassation. Such an appeal should be filed within 60 days.

In January, an appeals court ordered a retrial, saying the initial verdict lacked evidence against the three journalists working for the Doha-based network’s English channel.

The journalists and Al Jazeera have vigorously denied the accusations during the trial.

Ten previous sessions in the court had all been adjourned.

Greste has already been deported to his native Australia under a law allowing the transfer of foreigners on trial to their home countries, but he was retried in absentia.

Fahmy and Mohamed were on bail ahead of the verdict after spending more than 400 days in detention.

The Cairo court said on Saturday that the previous time spent in prison will be accounted for as time served.

Fahmy renounced his Egyptian nationality hoping he too would be deported.

Canadian Minister of State Lynne Yelich issued a statement after Saturday’s verdict calling on Egyptian authorities to release Fahmy.

“Canada is disappointed with Mohamed Fahmy’s conviction today. ‎This decision severely undermines confidence in the rule of law in Egypt,” Yelich said.

“The government of Canada continues to call on the Egyptian government to use all tools at its disposal to resolve Mr Fahmy’s case and allow his immediate return to Canada.”

The three men have received support from governments, media organisations and rights groups from around the world.

US's NSA labeled Al Jazeera journalist a member of Al Qaeda

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Al Jazeera Islamabad bureau chief Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan put on watch list after years of reporting on terror groups

Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan

by Common Dreams

The U.S. government labeled Al Jazeera journalist Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan a member of al Qaeda and put him on a watch list of suspected terrorists, new reporting by the Intercept has revealed.

Zaidan, a Syrian national who serves as Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Islamabad, Pakistan, was put on a watch list by the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2012, according to agency documents leaked in 2013 by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Among those documents are a PowerPoint slide from an NSA presentation which shows Zaidan’s face, name, terror watch list identification number, and a label that states he is a “member of Al-Qa’ida” and the Muslim Brotherhood. It also says he “works for Al Jazeera.”

As a journalist, Zaidan spent years reporting on the Taliban and al Qaeda, conducting several interviews with senior leaders in those groups, including Osama bin Laden.

“To assert that myself, or any journalist, has any affiliation with any group on account of their contact book, phone call logs, or sources is an absurd distortion of the truth and a complete violation of the profession of journalism,” Zaidan told the Intercept.

“For us to be able to inform the world, we have to be able to freely contact relevant figures in the public discourse, speak with people on the ground, and gather critical information. Any hint of government surveillance that hinders this process is a violation of press freedom and harms the public’s right to know.”

Read more at the Intercept.

India Bans Al Jazeera for 5 Days for Showing ‘Incorrect’ Maps of Kashmir; network condemns censorship

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New Delhi imposes tight restrictions on all printed maps, insisting they show all of Kashmir as being part of India [Reuters]

New Delhi imposes tight restrictions on all printed maps, insisting they show all of Kashmir as being part of India [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera English has condemned a decision by the Indian government to take the channel off-air for five days over maps the channel aired of the disputed Kashmir region.

The ban, which took effect on Wednesday, concerned maps which on occasions during 2013 and 2014 did not mark Pakistan-controlled Kashmir as a separate territory.

Al Jazeera in India showed a blue screen on Wednesday with a sign saying “as instructed by the ministry of information and broadcasting, this channel will not be available”.

The maps, produced by external software, gave the same treatment to Indian-controlled Kashmir, though this was not subject to similar complaints.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but both claim the whole of the region and have twice gone to war over its control since partition in 1947.

Al Anstey, the Managing Director of Al Jazeera English, called the ban “disproportionate,” saying it “needlessly deprives Indian viewers of our global news and programmes”.

“This is the latest in a series on ongoing issues. Our journalists have not been granted visas for years now,” Anstey said.

“We approach India like we do any other country – showing the world the positive and the negative, the humanity, and the diversity.

“This can be easily witnessed in the integrity and quality of the output that we have been allowed from India.

“We have though been severely hampered for too long by constraints placed upon us when trying to tell Indian stories to the world.”

The order comes amid a simmering censorship row in India over a series of recent bans that have sparked accusations of a growing climate of intolerance under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

They include a ban on screening a BBC documentary on the fatal gang-rape of a student that sparked mass protests in Delhi.

New Delhi imposes tight restrictions on all printed maps, insisting they show all of Kashmir as being part of India.

The government in 2011 ordered The Economist magazine to cover up a map of disputed borders in Kashmir.

The news weekly placed white stickers over a diagram of the borders on 28,000 copies on sale in India.

One Al Jazeera journalist freed while two remain prisoners of Egyptian crackdown

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Supporters welcomed news of Peter Greste’s deportation but warned they ‘will not rest’ until colleagues Fahmy and Mohamed are also freed

After being jailed for 400 days by Egyptian authorities, journalist Peter Greste was deported to Australia on Sunday, February 1. (Photo via freepetergreste.org)

After being jailed for 400 days by Egyptian authorities, journalist Peter Greste was deported to Australia on Sunday, February 1. (Photo via freepetergreste.org)

by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams

One of the three Al Jazeera journalists who had been held in Egypt for 400 days has been freed, sources reported Sunday.

Peter Greste, an Australian national, has reportedly boarded an Egypt Air flight and is being accompanied by his brother. However, Greste’s colleagues, Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed, remain imprisoned for allegedly colluding with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood in a case that has sparked international condemnation.

A recent presidential decree in Egypt stated that imprisoned foreign nationals may be deported to complete their sentence in their home country, which observers note is likely the reason behind Greste’s release.

Though the news of Greste’s deportation was widely celebrated, many connected to the case demanded the release of Fahmy and Mohamed, in addition to the numerous other wrongly convicted journalists currently detained as part of a sweeping crackdown against dissent in Egypt.

Al Jazeera Media Network released a statement saying that its campaign to free the journalists in Egypt will not end till all three have been released.

“We’re pleased for Peter and his family that they are to be reunited. It has been an incredible and unjustifiable ordeal for them, and they have coped with incredible dignity,” said Mostefa Souag, acting Director General of Al Jazeera Media Network. However, Souag added: “We will not rest until Baher and Mohamed also regain their freedom. The Egyptian authorities have it in their power to finish this properly today, and that is exactly what they must do.”

Al Anstey, managing director of Al Jazeera English, said he was relieved Greste was freed and on his way home to be reunited with his family, but also spoke of the need to free Baher and Mohamed.

“We’ve got to focus that Baher and Mohamed are still behind bars, and seven of their colleagues that were sentenced to ten years in absentia are still sentenced today,” Anstey said.

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, also welcomed the news of Greste’s release but added, “It is vital that in the celebratory fanfare surrounding his deportation the world does not forget the continuing ordeal of Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy who remain behind bars at Tora prison in Cairo.”

All three men, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said, “are facing trumped up charges and were forced to endure a farcical trial marred by irregularities. Continuing to detain Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy is completely unjust and unwarranted.”

Fahmy has also reportedly applied for deportation to Canada and his fiancée Marwa Omara told reporters she was “optimistic” about his chances. The case of Mohamed, however, is more complicated because he is an Egyptian national and therefore does not have the same options for release.

Mohamed’s brother Assem told the Guardian: “Baher will not be released. Until now only Peter … but as always what happens in Egypt it’s the Egyptians who pay.”

At least 12 journalists had been jailed in Egypt in 2014—double the number imprisoned the previous year—according to a December report by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

More than 16,000 people have been detained as part of a sweeping crackdown on dissent in Egypt, which has particularly targeted government opponents and critics, as well as media workers and human rights activists.

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