THE human rights lawyer Amal Clooney described the conviction yesterday of three journalists in Cairo as an “outrage” and “fiasco” that set a dangerous precedent for freedoms in Egypt.
Clooney’s client, Mohamed Fahmy, an Egyptian-born Canadian, was sentenced to three years in jail after being convicted of “broadcasting false news” alongside his colleagues, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed.
The three were arrested in December 2013 while reporting for the Qatar-based television news network Al Jazeera.
Greste, an Australian, who formerly worked for the BBC, was deported in February after spending 400 days in jail.
Fahmy and Mohamed were then released on bail, but not allowed to leave Egypt. They were re-arrested after yesterday’s verdict. Mohamed was sentenced to a further six months of hard labour for possessing a single bullet casing.
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“What just happened in that courtroom was an outrage,” Clooney told The Sunday Times after attending the session in Cairo’s heavily guarded Tora prison.
“The only verdict that a fair and independent court would reach in this case is a full acquittal on all charges. There is no evidence they committed a crime.”
The Beirut-born lawyer, who married the actor George Clooney in September last year, added: “It sends a message that journalists can be locked up for simply doing their job, for telling the truth and reporting the news.
“And it sends a dangerous message that there are judges in Egypt who will allow their courts to become instruments of political repression and propaganda.”
Fahmy’s wife, Marwa, burst into tears when the verdict was read out. “They have destroyed our lives,” she shouted, as her husband was dragged away by the prison guards amid chaotic scenes.
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Fahmy’s brother, Adel, said he was “shell-shocked”. Mostefa Souag, the acting director-general of Al Jazeera’s English-language service, said the verdict “defies logic and common sense”.
Amnesty International called the prison sentences the “death knell for freedom of expression in Egypt” and a “mockery of justice”.
The Canadian government denounced yesterday’s proceedings and demanded the Egyptian government do all it could to secure Fahmy’s return to Canada.
The trio became embroiled in Egypt’s justice system at the end of 2013 during the height of the military-backed government’s crackdown on Islamist supporters of the former president, Mohamed Morsi, who was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Egypt believed Qatar was continuing to give support to the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi after he was removed from office in July 2013. The authorities shut down Al Jazeera’s Egypt offices, claiming it was acting as a mouthpiece for the toppled leader and his banned group.
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Its journalists operated out of a five-star hotel in Cairo until they were rounded up in a spate of mass arrests that resulted in the trial of thousands of Morsi loyalists.
The trio had been sentenced to 7-10 years in June last year, but this was overturned by a higher court.