It is shocking beyond belief that an Egyptian court has jailed three Al Jazeera journalists whose only crime was that they were reporting on the political turmoil in the country following the ouster of the democratically-elected Mohamed Mursi-led Muslim Brotherhood government.
Indeed, words cannot aptly describe the outrage Egypt has caused around the world with this appalling, illogical and barbaric verdict that brings into sharp focus the insecurities of the all-powerful military establishment that has ruled the country for decades and still shows no signs of relinquishing its stranglehold on a hapless population.
Besides being an attack on the cherished principles of accepted behaviour, the verdict also proves beyond doubt the fact that this Egyptian government has scant respect for the media and other components that make for a modern civilized state.
The court decided that the journalists – Australian Peter Greste, Canadian-Egyptian national Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed – were “spreading lies” against the military on behalf of a “terrorist” organisation. Obviously, it was alluding to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Greste, Al Jazeera’s Kenya-based correspondent and Fahmy its Cairo Bureau chief got seven years, while producer Mohamed received an additional three years on a separate charge involving possession of ammunition.
Al Jazeera said the rulings defied “logic, sense and any semblance of justice”.
Greste’s brother Michael said: “This is terribly devastating. I am stunned, dumbstruck. I’ve no other words.”
It’s pretty obvious that even the basic principles of justice were not followed in the trial as Shaaban Saeed, a defence lawyer, said: “We were expecting innocence but there is no justice in this country. Politics is what judges.”
Politics was clearly the reason why Egypt went after the journalists. The fact that they represented a media organisation established by Qatar was something Egypt couldn’t tolerate. They were held at Egypt’s notorious Tora Prison for six months, in a case that has drawn criticism from Western governments and human rights groups.
Ever since the Mursi government was toppled, the Egyptian military has not hesitated to display its sweeping powers, with some outrageous decisions, including the mass sentencing to death of political opponents on baseless charges of terrorism, making headlines the world over.
Yesterday, a court also handed life sentences to 24 Islamists for killing a taxi driver who reportedly had put in his car a picture of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the ex-army chief turned president.
Just days ago, 183 alleged Islamists, including Brotherhood chief Mohamed Badie, were given the death rap over the murder of two policemen.
Western governments and rights groups have voiced concern over freedom of expression in Egypt since Mursi’s ouster and the crackdown has raised questions about Egypt’s democratic credentials three years after an uprising toppled Hosni Mubarak after 30 years in power and raised hopes of greater freedoms.
Qatar must also take up the case at the highest possible level and get the journalists freed at the earliest.