An Egyptian court on Thursday began the trial of 20
journalists, including nine from the Al Jazeera TV network on
terrorism-related charges, in a case that has drawn international
criticism.
The court rejected a request by defence lawyers to release on bail
the eight defendants, who have been in police custody since December.
The detainees include Australian Peter Greste, a former BBC correspondent now with Al Jazeera.
Greste and two Egyptians journalists, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed , were arrested at a Cairo hotel on December 29, days after the military-backed government designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation.
Prosecutors accused the defendants, who include four foreigners, of harming Egypt’s national interests by allegedly spreading false news and assisting or belonging to a terrorist organisation.
Twelve defendants, including two Britons and a Dutch national, are being tried in absentia.
The court said the trial, held at a makeshift courtroom in a police institution in southern Cairo, would be adjourned to March 5, to give defence lawyers time to examine the case documents.
The Qatari broadcaster, Al Jazeera, has dismissed the charges against its reporters as “absurd, baseless and false”.
Thousands of the Muslim Brotherhood’s followers have been arrested since July when the military toppled President Mohammed Morsi, a senior leader in the group.
Egyptian Government and media accuse Al Jazeera of being biased in favour of Morsi and the Brotherhood.
Relations between Egypt and Qatar, the only Gulf backer of the Muslim Brotherhood, have deteriorated since Morsi’s ouster.
Police raided Al Jazeera offices in Cairo after the army overthrew Morsi, clamping some of its reporters in detention since August 2013.
Meanwhile, New York-based Human Rights Watch said the trial demonstrated the Egyptian Government’s “almost zero tolerance for any form of dissent.
“Journalists should not have to risk years in an Egyptian prison for doing their job,” said Joe Stork, the Deputy Middle East Director at Human Rights Watch, said in statement, adding that their prosecution “shows how fast the space for dissent in Egypt is evaporating”.
The Committee to Protect Journalists had ranked Egypt as the third deadliest country for reporters to work in last year. (dpa/NAN)
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Greste and two Egyptians journalists, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed , were arrested at a Cairo hotel on December 29, days after the military-backed government designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation.
Prosecutors accused the defendants, who include four foreigners, of harming Egypt’s national interests by allegedly spreading false news and assisting or belonging to a terrorist organisation.
Twelve defendants, including two Britons and a Dutch national, are being tried in absentia.
The court said the trial, held at a makeshift courtroom in a police institution in southern Cairo, would be adjourned to March 5, to give defence lawyers time to examine the case documents.
The Qatari broadcaster, Al Jazeera, has dismissed the charges against its reporters as “absurd, baseless and false”.
Thousands of the Muslim Brotherhood’s followers have been arrested since July when the military toppled President Mohammed Morsi, a senior leader in the group.
Egyptian Government and media accuse Al Jazeera of being biased in favour of Morsi and the Brotherhood.
Relations between Egypt and Qatar, the only Gulf backer of the Muslim Brotherhood, have deteriorated since Morsi’s ouster.
Police raided Al Jazeera offices in Cairo after the army overthrew Morsi, clamping some of its reporters in detention since August 2013.
Meanwhile, New York-based Human Rights Watch said the trial demonstrated the Egyptian Government’s “almost zero tolerance for any form of dissent.
“Journalists should not have to risk years in an Egyptian prison for doing their job,” said Joe Stork, the Deputy Middle East Director at Human Rights Watch, said in statement, adding that their prosecution “shows how fast the space for dissent in Egypt is evaporating”.
The Committee to Protect Journalists had ranked Egypt as the third deadliest country for reporters to work in last year. (dpa/NAN)
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