Al-Jazeera journalists get 3 years in prison

An Egyptian court has sentenced three Al-Jazeera English journalists to three years in prison.

The court issued the verdict Saturday in the long-running trial criticized worldwide by press freedom advocates and human rights activists.

The three Al-Jazeera journalists — Canadian national Mohammed Fahmy, Australian journalist Peter Greste and Egyptian producer Baher Mohammed — were detained in December 2013 while working for the Doha-based network.

The three first were sentenced to prison before Egypt's highest court ordered a retrial on charges of them allegedly being part of the Muslim Brotherhood, which authorities have declared a terrorist organization, and airing falsified footage intended to damage national security.

Egypt deported Greste in February. Fahmy and Mohammed were later released on bail.

That's a strange one, LL, I can't see any actual evidence against the men, so suspect this has more to do with politics than justice?

At least Greste is out of the country.

bb1 wrote:That's a strange one, LL, I can't see any actual evidence against the men, so suspect this has more to do with politics than justice?

At least Greste is out of the country.

He may be out of Egypt but he now has a prison sentence hanging over his head. A more detailed report here. LL

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-29/peter-greste-and-al-jazeera-colleagues-found-guilty-at-retrial/6735106

I've been reading a bit of the background to all this, LL. I hadn't realised that their lawyer was none other than George Clooney's wife. Now, she is a high-profile 'human rights' lawyer - but she actually has an abysmal record when it comes to freeing her clients.

While her presence may have brought publicity, I suspect it may also have put the court's collective backs up, given her marriage to Clooney, who shoves his nose into, well, everything?

I know nothing about George Clooney save that he is a well-known US actor. And as for his wife, nada! I would never take up human rights law, too dodgy by half. LL

Clooney is a complete pain in the ar@e, a real champagne socialist type.

His wife:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amal_Clooney

An extremely rich person who preaches the virtues of socialism to us commoners, all the while ensuring that there is NO danger of them ever having to pay their fair share of taxes, etc.

Clooney is forever going on about 'poverty' and what is best for the rest of us; like Jolie and co, he's none too keen on being anywhere near the common herd, however:

On 7 August 2014, the couple obtained marriage licences at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea of the United Kingdom.[62] They married on 27 September 2014 in Venice's city hall (at Ca' Farsetti),[63][64][65] following a star-studded wedding ceremony two days earlier, also[66] in Venice.[67][68][69] They were married by Clooney's friend Walter Veltroni, a former mayor of Rome.[69][70] The wedding was widely reported in the media.[71] In October 2014, it was announced that the couple had bought the Mill House on an island in the River Thames at Sonning Eye in England[72] at a cost of around £10 million.[73]

Oh, right, thanks. Wonder what that makes me? LL

Here they are, LL:



George Clooney may have launched his own brand of tequila with a decadent party in Ibiza last week – complete with wife Amal in a glamorous gold outfit, above – but he’s introducing it to Britain in more modest style... at his local pub.
George and Amal, 37, have a £10 million Berkshire home and love the nearby Bull Inn at Sonning, which George, 54, has called the ‘greatest pub in the world’.
It is now selling George’s Casamigos Tequila, which will set you back £4.85 a shot – unless the Hollywood star buys you a free drink.
Locals say when George and Amal had dinner at the pub, he offered to buy fellow diners drinks so they could provide feedback.
But how could anyone say anything bad to Gorgeous George?


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3215386/GIRL-TOWN-George-Clooney-wants-buy-drink-feedback-new-Tequila-brand.html#ixzz3kL9hNd4s
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

That's got yesterday's date on it, so it looks like she was attending ' decadent Ibiza parties' in between losing court cases in Egypt.

I personally question the wisdom of using her in this case; she doesn't have a very good record of victories for starters. AJ may have hired her thinking Oh, George Clooney's wife, this will get international publicity forgetting that the object of the exercise was to get their employees out of jail.

It's hard to tell, the whole case is peculiar, and more political that anything else, but personally, I would have chosen a less glitzy lawyer.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news-agency-criticised-for-describing-amal-clooney-as-actors-wife-in-coverage-of-human-rights-trial-10478599.html

Interesting comment:

MARNI 8 hours ago
I think more concern for the earned credit for tireless work done might be accorded to Kaled Abu Bakr (Fahmy's Egyptian lawyer) who rarely gets a look in on mentions whenever Amal Clooney shows up for a headline grab. Perhaps he'd be advised to try and woo a Hollywood actress if he wants noted next time. Maybe people getting upset about this tweet ought to ask why a very Junior barrister of few years experience is getting name checked at all in AP tweets.

I haven't been following the case so don't know how accurate that is.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/david-starkey-tells-amal-clooney-to-shut-up-and-stop-overpromoting-human-rights-10274001.html

David Starkey 'tells Amal Clooney to shut up and stop over-promoting human rights'

Insulted by Starkey - the ultimate accolade.

Her father is Druze, her mother Sunni Muslim and Egypt is predominantly Sunni. Maybe that had some influence in using her? LL

I just don't know, LL, it's such an odd case, anything is possible. My own feeling, from what I have read, is that it has more to do with political rows between Egypt and Qatar, than anything these men may have done, so someone less high-profile and combative might have carried more weight?

I don't know, I am just speculating.

Lamplighter wrote:Her father is Druze, her mother Sunni Muslim and Egypt is predominantly Sunni.   Maybe that had some influence in using her?   LL

Probably, LL.  She also speaks Arabic.

Glad to read this.

More:

http://news.sky.com/story/1557619/jailed-al-jazeera-journalists-pardoned-in-egypt

Three Al Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt have been pardoned by President Abdel Fattah al Sisi.

Canadian Mohamed Fahmy was given clemency in a presidential decree along with prominent human rights activists, according to a lawyer and Egypt's state-run news agency.

At least one of the others is his colleague Baher Mohammed who was also jailed at the same time.

MENA news agency says Mr Sisi has ordered those pardoned be released today.

Fahmy and Mohammed were handed a three-year prison sentences last month for broadcasting what a court described as "false news" and biased coverage.

It wasn't clear whether Peter Greste, who was also sentenced in the case, was among those pardoned.

Unlike his colleagues, Mr Greste, an Australian, had already been deported.

Around 100 have been pardoned in total, says Sky News Middle East Correspondent Sherine Tadros.

At their retrial, Judge Hassan Farid said he jailed the three in part because they were not registered with the country's journalist syndicate.

Good news indeed - and I do wonder, again, about the wisdom of their choice of lawyer....high-profiles aren't always a good thing.

Oh I feel certain that we will be seeing something akin to Ms Jolie in the future.....honors etc....