AFP/Cairo
A Canadian-Egyptian journalist for Al Jazeera English on trial in Egypt pleaded for his release yesterday, as the prosecution submitted footage and pictures as evidence in the unprecedented trial of reporters.
Three detained journalists with the Qatar-based broadcaster and 17 others are on trial for alleged links to the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood movement.
The three have been in detention for more than 100 days, despite an international outcry and amid fears of a crackdown on the media after the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July.
The court yesterday studied prosecution charges that the defendants had misrepresented Egypt’s political crisis in their broadcasts.
To show alleged manipulation, footage was aired from the British channel Sky News’s Arabic affiliate, apparently found on a computer in the home of Jazeera producer and defendant Baher Mohamed.
It included a Sky News Arabia report on tourism in Egypt, with a horse munching on fodder in a stable in one scene.
Mohamed’s brother Assem, who worked with Sky News Arabia and was attending the trial in the gallery, told an AFP journalist the footage came from his own laptop, taken by police from his and Mohamed’s house.
The court was also shown seemingly random pictures found in the possession of Australian defendant Peter Greste, including one of his elderly parents.
Mohamed Fahmy, a Canadian-Egyptian who served as Cairo bureau chief for Al Jazeera English, pleaded for an end to his imprisonment.
The judge adjourned the trial to April 22.
