Egypt "sets appeal" for journalists

21 October 2014 Last updated at 16:46 The three jailed al-Jazeera journalists: Mohamed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste A court in Egypt has set the appeals hearing of three jailed al-Jazeera journalists for 1 January, says the family of one of them.

Mohamed Fahmy’s family said Cairo’s Court of Cassation will hear the case.

The three journalists of the Qatar-based broadcaster were jailed for seven years on 23 June. They were accused of spreading false news and supporting the Islamist group the Muslim Brotherhood.

The court will either uphold the verdict or call for a retrial.

It is thought the Court of Cassation will take one or two sessions to deliver its ruling.

A lawyer familiar with the case told the BBC that if the court rejects the sentences, the case will return to the criminal court for a retrial.

Should it uphold the verdict, the only other alternative is for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to offer a pardon.

Silent protests Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed at their sentencing on 23 June BBC journalists joined colleagues around the world in silently protesting against the sentencing

Egyptian-Canadian bureau chief Mr Fahmy, Australian correspondent Peter Greste and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed were arrested on 29 December last year.

At the sentencing in June, Mr Fahmy received a further three years on charges of possessing “unlicensed ammunition”.

Eleven other defendants, including three foreign journalists, tried in absentia at the same time received 10-year sentences.

The sentencing of the three sparked an international outcry and raised concerns over growing media restrictions in Egypt.

Journalists around the world held silent protests against their imprisonment

Al-Jazeera was banned from operating inside Egypt after the authorities accused it of broadcasting reports sympathetic to former President Mohammed Morsi and the now banned Muslim Brotherhood. Al-Jazeera has consistently denied the allegations.

However Qatar has supported the Brotherhood and is unpopular with Egypt’s government.

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Egypt "sets appeal" for journalists

Egypt arrests Al-Jazeera journalists

CAIRO (AFP) — Egyptian secret police have arrested an award-winning Australian journalist and an Egyptian reporter for the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera channel suspected of illegally broadcasting news harming “domestic security,” the interior ministry said.

The arrests come amid a widening crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, which the military-installed government declared a “terrorist organisation” last week.Al-Jazeera confirmed the arrests, and said police also detained a producer and a cameraman.Officers of the National Security service raided the broadcaster’s makeshift bureau at a Cairo hotel on Sunday, arresting two of the journalists and confiscating their equipment, said a ministry statement.It did not identify the journalists, only saying one was a “Muslim Brotherhood member” and the other an Australian.Al-Jazeera English identified them as Cairo bureau chief Mohamed Adel Fahmy, a dual Egyptian-Canadian citizen, and Australian reporter Peter Greste.It said producer Baher Mohamed and cameraman Mohamed Fawzi were also arrested on Sunday evening.The raid came after authorities listed the Brotherhood as a terror outfit, making membership in the Islamist group or even possession of its literature a crime.The journalists “broadcast live news harming domestic security,” the ministry said, adding they were also found in possession of Brotherhood “publications”.Greste, a former BBC journalist, won the prestigious Peabody award in 2011 for a documentary on Somalia. Fahmy, who formerly worked with CNN, is a well-known journalist in Cairo.“We condemn the arbitrary arrest of Al-Jazeera English journalists working in Cairo and demand their immediate and unconditional release,” the network said.“Al-Jazeera Media Network has been subject to harassment by Egyptian security forces which has arrested our colleagues, confiscated our equipment and raided our offices despite that we are not officially banned from working there.”Egypt’s military-installed government cracked down on Al-Jazeera’s affiliates following the overthrow of Morsi in July, accusing the broadcaster of pro-Brotherhood coverage.Gas-rich Qatar had been a strong supporter of Morsi, and stood out among other Gulf nations in condemning Egypt’s deadly crackdown on pro-Morsi demonstrations.Several Al-Jazeera reporters remain in detention, including Abdullah Elshamy, a journalist for the Arabic language station arrested on August 14 when police dispersed an Islamist protest camp in Cairo, killing hundreds in clashes.The Al-Jazeera office in Cairo. (PHOTO: AFP)

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Egypt arrests Al-Jazeera journalists