Free Republic

An Egyptian court released a detailed ruling on Sunday on why it sentenced three journalists working for al-Jazeera English to three years in prison for airing what it described as “false news” and biased coverage. The case has long been criticised by press freedom campaigners and others. The ruling, published by the state news agency Mena, said Mohamed Fahmy, a Canadian national, Peter Greste, an Australian journalist, and BaherMohamed, an Egyptian producer, were by default members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group, which Egyptian authorities consider a terrorist organisation. “It has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that the al-Jazeera media...

Egypt's top court had in January ordered a retrial of the three men. But an Egyptian official told Agence France-Presse news agency on Sunday: "There is a presidential decision to deport Peter Greste to Australia." Another official told Associated Press the release had been co-ordinated with the Australian embassy in Cairo. The BBC's Orla Guerin in Cairo says Egyptian law requires those deported under these circumstances to either finish their sentence in their home country or be put on trial again there, and it is unclear whether the Australian authorities have agreed to that. Al-Jazeera has demanded the release of...

British-Lebanese human rights lawyer urges Egyptian president to expedite release of Canadian-Egyptian reporter.British-Lebanese human rights lawyer Amal Clooney has called on Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to release and pardon an imprisoned Egyptian-Canadian journalist for Al Jazeera, whom she represents. The attorney - who recently wed Hollywood star George Clooney - released a statement Friday, expressing disappointment over the lack of "concrete" progress toward the release of Mohamed Fahmy following a meeting with Egyptian and Canadian diplomats, Egypt's Al-Masry Al-Youm reported. Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird expressed cautious optimism for Fahmy's release after talks with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shukri...

Journalists and media organisations have warned that the jailing of three correspondents for Al-Jazeera English by the Cairo regime was intended to intimidate others from reporting freely on events in Egypt. The jail terms of between seven and ten years for Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were met with outrage from veteran correspondents who have reported on the Egyptian uprising and its aftermath. Jeremy Bowen, the BBC's Middle East editor, said the verdicts and sentencing were a blow to freedom of speech and freedom of expression. "This is also at least partly designed to intimidate other journalists, and...

Minya Misdemeanor Court sentenced an Egyptian correspondent who works for a US TV channel to five years and ordered him pay LE500 bail over charges of inciting sedition by broadcasting false news. […] Senior sources disclosed that the defendant was called Mohamed al-Sayyed Hegazy before converting to Christianity. …

Egypt's military-dominated government has delivered a humiliating, public slap in the face to John Kerry, the US secretary of state, by sentencing three al-Jazeera journalists to long prison terms only hours after Kerry personally expressed his deep concern about the case in high-level meetings in Cairo. The snub represents a disastrous beginning to Kerry's already fraught Middle East tour, which took him to Baghdad on Monday for crisis talks about the Islamist extremist uprising. The verdict, by a court responsive to government wishes, will also be seen as a deliberate, crude signal to President Barack Obama, who criticised Egypt's deteriorating...

Australia on Tuesday urged Egypt's new leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to issue a presidential pardon for Al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste to prove to the world Cairo is on a path to democracy. Australian Greste and his Al Jazeera colleague, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, were both sentenced to seven years in Jail by a Cairo court on Monday for aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood and "spreading false news".

Twenty journalists, including four foreigners, have gone on trial in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. They face charges including aiding a terrorist organisation - as the Muslim Brotherhood was designated in December - and endangering national security. Eight defendants are in custody, among them al-Jazeera's Egyptian-Canadian bureau chief Mohamed Adel Fahmy and Australian correspondent Peter Greste.

An Australian journalist, who is being held in an Egyptian jail with two colleagues, says their detention is an “attack on freedom of speech”. “We have not been formally charged, much less convicted of any crime,” Peter Greste wrote in a letter. The Al-Jazeera journalists were arrested on 30 December in Cairo for allegedly holding illegal meetings with the banned Muslim Brotherhood. …