Jailed Journalists’ Win Appeal For Retrial in Egypt

According to reports, three journalists who have been held in Egypt for over a year have just won an appeal to have their case retried in the Egyptian courts. And the Court of Cassation will rule on their case before deciding whether to free them. This comes as a disappointment to activists who are calling for the immediate release of Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy, and Baher Mohamed. 

An Al Jazeera spokesperson commented on the latest developments, saying “”Baher, Peter and Mohammed have been unjustly in jail for over a year now. The Egyptian authorities have a simple choice — free these men quickly, or continue to string this out, all the while continuing this injustice and harming the image of their own country in the eyes of the world. They should choose the former.””

As discussed in an earlier article, there has been pressure to release the prisoners. And there have been discussions on whether the President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will call for a pardon.

In Egypt’s rising authoritarianism, there have been many such arrests of individuals who have done nothing wrong. The arrest of these journalists has been highly condemned from voices throughout the world. 

The retrial is not enough. There must be an immediate release of these prisoners, as well as the release of any other prisoner who was falsely accused of a crime; these politically motivated actions by the state must end. The Egyptian government cannot arrest individuals at will under the framework that they are working with or for the Muslim Brotherhood. It is evident that El-Sisi has tried to halt any serious political rival, and using journalists for his objectives only further shows the lack of democracy with the new regime.

Journalists must be given full protection when doing their work. Yet, quite unfortunately, journalists are targeted (through jailings or killings) constantly. It is critical that political actors do not target non-combatants, which of course includes journalists.