Cairo, August 30

Australian Al-Jazeera reporter Peter Greste called today for Egypt’s president to pardon him and two colleagues handed prison sentences in a shock ruling that sparked international condemnation and which he described as “politically motivated”.

The Cairo court said Greste, along with Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed, had broadcast “false” news that had harmed Egypt and sentenced them to three years in jail.

The case has become an embarrassment for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has said he wished the reporters had been deported rather than put on trial. He may pardon them if he chooses.

“In the absence of any evidence of wrongdoing, the only conclusion that we can come to is that this verdict was politically motivated,” Greste, who was tried in absentia after being deported early this year, told reporters in Sydney Sunday.

Fahmy and Mohamed were in the Cairo court for the verdict, and Fahmy’s lawyer Amal Clooney told reporters she would press the presidency for a pardon. “It’s a dangerous precedent in Egypt that journalists can be locked up simply for reporting the news and courts can be used as political tools,” she said.

Canada called for the “immediate return” of Fahmy, while Qatar-based Al-Jazeera denounced the verdict as an “attack on press freedom”.

“It’s a dark day for the Egyptian judiciary,” Giles Trendle, the English channel’s acting managing director, told reporters in Doha. “Rather than defend liberty and the free and fair media, the Egyptian judiciary has compromised its own independence.” Al-Jazeera’s head of litigation, Farah Muftah, said in Doha the ruling would be appealed once the judge publishes the basis for his sentencing. Several co-defendants, accused of working with Al-Jazeera, received similar sentences.

UN chief regrets sentencing

United Nations, August 30

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that he deeply regretted the sentencing of Al Jazeera journalists by an Egyptian court.

In a statement, the UN secretary-general recalled his earlier appeals for the case to be resolved expeditiously and in accordance with Egypt’s international obligations to protect freedom of expression and association and in full observance of due process guarantees.

Ban also underscored once again the importance of pluralism and respect for fundamental freedoms for the long-term prosperity and stability of Egypt, according to the statement.  Xinhua