The retrial of two al-Jazeera journalists who face terror-related charges in Egypt in a case widely criticised by human rights organisations and media groups has been postponed.
The decision on Monday to move the trial to 8 March comes after a brief hearing for the acting bureau chief, Mohamed Fahmy, and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed. They were freed earlier this month to await trial, though they have had to check in with police each day.
The two, arrested in December 2013, face charges of being part of a terrorist group and airing falsified footage intended to damage Egyptian national security. Satellite news network al-Jazeera is based in Qatar, which was the main backer of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group linked to toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
Since Morsi was deposed, Egypt has been cracking down heavily on his supporters and the journalists were accused of being mouthpieces for the Brotherhood. Al-Jazeera and the journalists have denied the allegations, saying they were simply reporting the news.
Another colleague arrested with them, Australian Peter Greste, was deported to Australia on 1 February under a new law allowing foreigners accused of crimes to be deported. Fahmy, a dual Egyptian-Canadian national, dropped his Egyptian citizenship after Egyptian security officials told him it was the only way he would benefit from the new law.
Egypt’s court of cassation, the country’s highest appeal court, ordered the retrial and said the initial proceedings were marred by violations of the defendants’ rights. Fahmy received a seven-year prison sentence while Mohamed got 10 years.
Eleven other defendants in the case — mostly students accused of being Brotherhood members — have been released without charge.
While on bail, Fahmy, 40, has criticised al-Jazeera, saying its “epic negligence has made our situation harder, more difficult, and gave our captor more firepower”.
Mohamed, 31, previously said he was optimistic about his retrial, though he “decided not to have any expectations”.
There are at least nine other journalists in detention in Egypt. In 2014, the Committee to Protect Journalists listed Egypt as one of the 10 worst jailers of journalists around the world, along with China, Iran, Turkey and Ethiopia.
Source: The Guardian
