To: President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fatah al-Sisi
Esteemed President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi,
We, members and partners of IFEX the global network defending freedom of expression condemn the recent verdict of the Cairo court in the case involving journalists from Al Jazeera English.
Nairobi-based Al Jazeera English reporter Australian Peter Greste, the Al Jazeera English Cairo bureau chief Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and the Al Jazeera producer Baher Mohamed have been detained since December 29 part of that time they were held in solitary confinement.
The verdict of the court, despite the lack of evidence and bizarre court proceedings over more than a dozen hearings, is an appalling attack on press freedom and carries an implicit threat to all media working in Egypt.
The court proceedings have been farcical from the outset and there has not been a shred of evidence presented by the prosecution that in any way implicates the journalists in the charges of defaming Egypt and having ties to the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood. Contrary to the charges the three journalists have behaved ethically and responsibly while reporting on a complex, rapidly changing political environment in Egypt.
Evidence presented to the court by the prosecution included holiday photographs of Peter Greste's parents, a recording of popular Australian singer Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know; Greste's award-winning reports from East Africa, Sky News Arabia's tourism reports, poorly photoshopped images, and BBC podcasts.
Baher Mohamed was sentenced to an additional three years in prison for possession of ammunition, referring to a spent bullet casing that he had found on the ground during a protest.
Evidence against Fahmy, Greste, and Mohamed included a clearly doctored photograph depicting Fahmy with former Egyptian military chief Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, fabricated reports by "technical experts" and run of the mill reporting on sexual assaults in Tahrir Square.
We the undersigned call on President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to take immediate steps to rectify this extraordinary attack on press freedom and human rights:
We call on President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and Egyptian authorities to immediately release the three Al Jazeera English journalist and all journalists detained for their journalism We urge the Egyptian government to overturn the verdict so that it is not a precedent to be used against other journalists in the future We urge that both local and foreign journalists working in Egypt be free to carry out their duties without harassment, intimidation or violence
Signed,
The International Federation of Journalists Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance Amnesty International Australia ActiveWatch Media Monitoring Agency Afghanistan Journalists Center Albanian Media Institute Arabic Network for Human Rights Information ARTICLE 19 Association for Civil Rights Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression Association of Caribbean Media Workers Bahrain Center for Human Rights Cambodian Center for Human Rights Canadian Journalists for Free Expression Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility Centre for Independent Journalism - Malaysia Committee to Protect Journalists Crikey Federation of Nepali Journalists Financial Standard Foundation for Press Freedom - FLIP Freedom Forum Hong Kong Journalists Association Independent Journalism Center - Moldova Index on Censorship Initiative for Freedom of Expression - Turkey Instituto Prensa y Sociedad de Venezuela International Publishers Association Journaliste en danger Journalists' Trade Union Media Institute of Southern Africa Media Watch National Union of Somali Journalists Norwegian PEN Observatorio Latinoamericano para la Libertad de Expresin - OLA Pakistan Press Foundation PEN American Center PEN Canada PEN International Reporters Without Borders Southeast Asian Press Alliance West African Journalists Association World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters - AMARC World Press Freedom Committee Aliran, Malaysia Asosiasaun Jornalista Timor Lorosae-AJTL Australian Broadcasting Corporation Bangladesh Manobadhikar Sangbadik Forum (BMSF) Black Stump Media
Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists Brisbane Times Building and Wood Workers International Cambodian Association for the Protection of Journalists Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA) Center for Media Research - Nepal (CMR - Nepal) CHOICE Community Newspaper Group in Western Australia Crunch Media, Sydney, Australia Grupo de los Cien, Mexico Indian Journalists Union INFORM Human Rights Documentation centre, Sri Lanka Karen News The Media Foundation, India National Union of Journalists - Nepal Nepal Press Union Nepal Sports Journalists Forum Network of Women in Media, India New Zealand Amalgamated Engineering, Printing & Manufacturing Union Inc. (EPMU) New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Next Media Trade Union Hong Kong NOW Magazine NUJ Nepal Online Journalists Association, Nepal Pakistan Federation of Journalists Partners for Law in Development PEN Flanders PEN Melbourne PEN Quebec PEN South Africa PEN USA Photojournalists Club, Nepal Point of View, Mumbai Radio 2GB, Sydney Rule of Law Institute of Australia Seven Network (Operations) Limited Sky News Australia Sky News New Zealand South Asian Free Media Association Sri Lanka Chapter South Asian Women in Media Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association (SLWJA) Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM) Swedish PEN Sydney PEN Centre thehoot.org, India The Tribe Press Agency Toronto Star The Walkley Foundation Amanda Wilson Communications