An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced three Al-Jazeera English journalists to three years in prison, the last twist in a long-running trial criticised worldwide by press freedom advocates and human rights activists.
The case against Canadian national Mohammed Fahmy, Australian journalist Peter Greste and Egyptian producer Baher Mohammed embroiled their journalism into the wider conflict between Egypt and Qatar following the 2013 military ouster of Mohammed Morsi.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the sentence would affect the three men. Greste, deported in February, spoke to Al-Jazeera from Sydney and criticised the verdict. Mostefa Souag, acting director-general of Al-Jazeera English, also criticised the verdict, saying it “defies logic and common sense”.
“The whole case has been heavily politicised and has not been conducted in a free and fair manner,” Souag said in a statement.
“There is no evidence proving that our colleagues in any way fabricated news or aided and abetted terrorist organisations and at no point during the long drawn out retrial did any of the unfounded allegations stand up to scrutiny.”
The case began in December 2013, when Egyptian security forces raided the upscale hotel suite used by Al-Jazeera at the time to report from Egypt. Authorities arrested Fahmy, Greste and Mohammed, later charging them with allegedly being part of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which authorities have declared a terrorist organisation, and airing falsified footage intended to damage national security.
