Al Jazeera Staff in Egypt

I have been writing on the developments of the Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt, and, according to an Al Jazeera report, “An Egyptian court has ordered the release of detained Al Jazeera journalists Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy on bail.” Now, it seems that there will be a retrial, and that the journalists have a hearing on February 23rd, 2015. 

The Egyptian government under Abdel Fattah el-Sisi saw them as supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, and reporting false information. The journalists have continued to claim their innocence. In addition to Mohamed and Fahmy, “A third Al Jazeera journalist, Peter Greste, who was also to be retried, was deported on February 1 under a presidential decree after spending 400 days in prison. He has since returned to his home in Australia” (Al Jazeera, 2015).

The international community has been upset by the Egyptian government’s actions, as it seems but an authoritarian action by the government in attempts to silence any journalists or dissenting voices in the country. El-Sisi, since overtaking the government in July of 2013, has pushed forward an oppressive rule against people who challenge the new Egyptian government. 

It does seem that the international pressure to release the journalists has at least some impact, given the release of Greste.

Hopefully this new development will eventually lead to a complete release of the journalists. And, let us hope that not only are they released, but that the Egyptian government also releases any other journalists and individuals who were merely expressing their independent voice–and thus not committing a crime in the country–against what many see as gross human rights violations within Egypt.