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Journalism in Egypt is now a Crime - and OK with the USA. - Peter Lemkin - 24-06-2014
"Journalism in Egypt is a Crime": Global Outcry After 3 Al Jazeera Reporters Sentenced to 7-10 Years
An Egyptian court has sentenced three Al Jazeera journalists to between seven and 10 years in prison on terrorism charges, including "spreading false news" in support of the Muslim Brotherhood, deemed by the government a "terrorist group." Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed have been jailed since December in a case that's stoked international outrage. The sentence came down one day after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited Cairo to meet with Egypt's new president, the former army general Abdul Fattah el-Sisi. Amnesty International decried the jail sentences as "a dark day for media freedom in Egypt," while Al Jazeera said the verdict defied "logic, sense, and any semblance of justice." We go to Cairo to speak with Mohamed Fahmy's brother Adel Fahmy, as well as Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who warns: "What this ruling means is that in Egypt journalism is a crime."
AMY GOODMAN: An Egyptian court has sentenced three Al Jazeera journalists to between seven and 10 years in prison. Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were convicted on terrorism charges including "spreading false news" in support of the Muslim Brotherhood, deemed by the government a "terrorist group." The three have been jailed since December in a case that's stoked international outrage. The hashtag #FreeAlJazeeraStaff is trending worldwide.
The sentence came down one day after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Egypt's new president, the army chief, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Peter Greste's brother Mike Greste was in the Egyptian courtroom when the sentence came down.
MIKE GRESTE: Wrong verdict. It'sI don'tI don't know how the judge came to that decision. I'd be very interested to hear his reasons for giving that verdict. It doesn't make any sense.
AMY GOODMAN: Amnesty International decried the jail sentences, saying it was, quote, "a dark day for media freedom in Egypt." The Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, also condemned the sentencing.JULIE BISHOP: Peter Greste is a well-respected Australian journalist. He was in Egypt to report on the political situation. He was not there to support the Muslim Brotherhood. We respect the outcome of the recent elections in Egypt, and we will now initiate contact at the highest levels in the new Egyptian government to see whether we can gain some kind of intervention from the new government and find out whether intervention is indeed possible at this stage. I have spoken at length with Peter Greste's parents. They are considering their legal options, including appeal options. We do not know how long an appeal process would take. But in the meantime, we will provide whatever consular assistance we can to Mr. Greste and, of course, to his family.
We understand that Egypt has been through some very difficult times and there has been a great deal of turmoil in Egypt, but this kind of verdict does nothing to support Egypt's claim to be on a transition to democracy, and the Australian government urges the new government of Egypt to reflect on what message is being sent to the world about the situation in Egypt. Freedom and freedom of the press is fundamental to a democracy. And we are deeply concerned that this verdict is part of a broader attempt to muzzle the media freedom that upholds democracies around the world.
AMY GOODMAN: Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop condemning Egypt for sentencing three Al Jazeera journalistsPeter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamedto between seven and 10 years in prison.We go directly to Cairo, Egypt, now, where we're joined by Adel Fahmy. He's the brother of journalist Mohamed Fahmy, an Egyptian-Canadian journalist who was Al Jazeera's acting Cairo bureau chief at the time of his arrest. And we're joined by Democracy Now! video stream by Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who was in the courtroom today, as well.
Adel Fahmy, can you respond to the verdict of the court?
ADEL FAHMY: Yes. So, that was an absolute shock for all of us. We totally expected the opposite. Leading up to this day, we had a politicians gave us reason to be optimistic, or at least cautiously optimistic. And then, the experience was extremely traumatic to all of us. I can't even calm down myI'm still trying to calm down my parents. We have towe have to start now of the coming steps, but it's very sad what the judicial system has given as a verdict. It's a disgrace, and it shows that the judicial system
AMY GOODMAN: I think we just lost Adel. We will try to get him back. Sharif, you were there with the families, with the packed courtroom. Tell us what happened today.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Well, what this ruling means is that in Egypt journalism is a crime. The court found these three journalists guilty, giving Mohamed Fahmy and Peter Greste seven years in prison, and Baher Mohamed, as well, and adding a three-year prison sentence onto Baher Mohamed for possessing an empty shell casing of a bullet, which he said was a souvenir, and so he has 10 years in prison.
It was a really difficult time in the court today when the verdicts were read out. The family members were weeping. Fellow colleagues, journalists, were weeping. Mohamed Fahmy was pulled away, had to be hauled away by the police in the court, as he was trying to shout to journalists and respond to this outrageous verdict. Peter Greste said nothing; he simply held up a closed fist in the air. And Baher Mohamed was shaking his head.
You know, this isthe little margin of freedom of expression and freedom of the press, that has been continually shrinking in Egypt, took a very heavy blow today. They are accused ofthe prosecution has accused these three journalists of tarnishing Egypt's image abroad by portraying false scenes, as Egypt undergoing a civil war, to help a terrorist organization, which is the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been designated that. And the prosecution, throughout the trial, did not show a shred of evidence of anything that comes close to that. Some of the evidence it showed even included stuff that had nothing to do at all with Egypt, including footage from Peter Greste in Somalia and Kenya, you know, even shots of their parents and so forth. And so, essentially, the court put journalism itself on trial. Many of the journalists today could have faced these same charges, because they did nothing more than do their jobs. And Peter Greste himself was only in Egypt for a couple of weeks. And lawyersdefense lawyers throughout the trial have asked the prosecution and the judge whether simply airing the views of an opposing voice is a crime in Egypt, and this sentence has, you know, put freedom of the press really a large step back in the country.
And if you alsopart of the prosecution's case rested on this technical report by, you know, three experts that went through all of the footage that was seized in the arrest of these three journalists. And during the trial, these expert witnesses denied they had any authority to judge whether these journalists endangered national security, and that contradicted the initial claims made inyou know, to the prosecutor on which the entire case rests. So it's a very, very weak, weak case. You know, the Amnesty International observer blasted this case and said it will have a very negative effect on freedom of the press in Egypt.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Mohamed Fahmy, from the cage in the courtroom, condemning the proceedings.
MOHAMED FAHMY: Today's proceedings show that there isit seems like all the witnesses have some amnesia or something, Alzheimer's. There is a lot of discrepancies in the documents and what they are saying themselves. The prosecutor has a lot to answer for, for allowing the four engineers from the Maspero state TV to have exactly the same copy/paste testimony, that we have seen in our video.
AMY GOODMAN: That's Mohamed Fahmy speaking from the cage. As the sentence was read, Mohamed Fahmy also yelled out, "Where is John Kerry?"again, a reference to secretary of state's surprise visit to Egypt just the day before, just this weekend. Adel Fahmy is back with us. The significance of Secretary of State Kerry talking about the renewal of all aid tomilitary aid to Egypt, as your brother and the other journalists have been convicted and sentenced to seven to 10 years in prison, Adel?ADEL FAHMY: I think Egypt has to rethink how their [inaudible] in different parts of the world. I think everyone now is going to lobbydifferent governments are going to lobby together against this appalling verdictand the U.S., as well, I'm sure. I heard that Mr. Kerry discussed this mistrial with President Sisi yesterday, but I don't know how thatwhat resulted from that or if there was time for any corrective action to be taken. But now I think this case really requires a strong diplomatic intervention by all governments and to make a firm stand against this ridiculous justice system in Egypt.
AMY GOODMAN: Adel, could you tell us about Mohamed? Hetell us how he ended up in Egypt, his life as a journalist.
ADEL FAHMY: Yeah, Mohamed worked in several countries prior to returning to Egypt. Of course, he lived in Canada for a big portion of his life. Then he worked in Dubai for awhile with TV, in Al Hurra TV. Then he wenthe worked with the Red Cross in Lebanon. And then he also worked in the L.A. Times covering the Iraq War and worked with the BBC and then CNN when the revolution was [inaudible] to be in Egypt, January 25 revolution, 2011. And after CNN, he joined Al Jazeera English onlyand I emphasize on thatonly since September 2013. So he was just only three months in his job. Andbut that's another point that we stressed in our defense, that, you know, he's a professional journalist who was only sent to his job for three months and was [inaudible] very objectively and professionally. Soand he got arrested, of course, as you know, on December 29th.
AMY GOODMAN: Now, Sharif, it is not only these three journalists, although they are in prison and, according to the court, will be for the next seven to 10 years, but a whole group of other Al Jazeera reporters have been sentenced to up to 10 years in absentia.
SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Right. The case named 20 defendants. There were five students who were charged in the case, which, you know, seemingly had no connection whatsoever to Al Jazeera. And the first time that the three journalistsMohamed Fahmy, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamedever saw them was in the defendants' cage. Four of those students were sentenced to seven years in prison. One of them, Anas el-Beltagy, who's actually the son of the Muslim Brotherhood leader, Mohamed el-Beltagy, was acquitted. Then a further 11 people were sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison. Al Jazeera has said nine of the 20 named in the case have a connection to the network. So there's some people in the case that areyou know, they're not all journalists. But one of the people named met with Mohamed Fahmy in the Marriott just for half an hour for tea. She's a Dutch journalist, and she found out that she was, you know, on the charge sheet and had to behad to hide in the Dutch Embassy and flee the country.
So, really just a haphazard list of charges. The prosecution, again, really provided no evidence that showed that these journalists had done anything other than very basic journalism. The prosecutor accused Al Jazeera of, quote-unquote, "forming a devilish pact," that Qatar formed a devilish pact to bring down governments in Syria and Yemen and Egypt. And Mohamed Fahmy himself, in the last court session before this verdict, held up George Bush's autobiography, Decision Points, and said, "To say that journalists can bring down a state like Iraq brings shame on all the media martyrs that died covering that war," and Mohamed Fahmy himself covered that war, and he said it was George Bush that destroyed Iraq, not Al Jazeera.
So, this case is going to have reverberations, I think, around the world. We saw a heavy diplomatic presence in the courtroom today with ambassadors from Canada, from Australia, from the Netherlands and from Latvia there. Both the Canadian and Australian ambassadors said that none of the evidence provided in the trialthey didn't understand how the judge came to this verdict. So, we'll have to see what happens going forward. They do have the right to appeal, of course, in this case. President Sisi does have the right to pardon them or provide amnesty.
But again, as you mentioned, this came a day after John Kerry, the secretary of state, visitedfor the first time, a high-level meeting between secretary of state and the newly inaugurated presidentand he voiced what appeared to be strong U.S. support for Egypt, for this new government, saying that, you know, the aid will be brought back to its previous levels, that he was confident that 10 Apache helicopters would be delivered to Egypt soon. Soand then, you know, the next day we have this really abominable verdict come down. So, we'll have to see whathow the State Department responds after that.
AMY GOODMAN: I was watching Sue Turton, who is one of the Al Jazeera reporters who's been sentenced in absentia. She was in the Al Jazeera studios in Doha earlier today, right after the sentence, saying, while she was much more concerned about the jailed journalists, of course, that this means, as journalists, it's very difficult for them to travel, because any countries that Egypt has agreements with could have her extradited, or the other journalists convicted in absentia, because she has been convicted in an Egyptian court. I also wanted to ask Adel Mohamedrather, Adel Fahmy, about his Mohamed's condition. He had dislocated his shoulder?
ADEL FAHMY: Yeah, he sustained this injury shortly before he was arrested back in December. And due to the negligence inside and the harsh condition and denying him to get an early diagnosis and treatment, it deteriorated substantially to become a permanent disability. So, as if this was not punishment enough, we get the verdict today. He hashis right arm, and it got reconfirmed with a recent second MRI last Tuesday to confirm that he will never have 100 percent functionality of his right arm again, [inaudible] of motion and considerable pain. So, even [inaudible] intervention, which he was trying to do right away, after his acquittal, can only be proved for things [inaudible].
AMY GOODMAN: And the significance of countries speaking out and the kind of worldwide outrage that's been expressed? Does it matter at all? We just heard the foreign minister of Australia, Julie Bishop. What role has Canada played in putting pressure on the Egyptian government? And what difference does it make when people speak out around the world? Does it make any difference forfor your brother Mohamed, for Peter, in prison?
ADEL FAHMY: Yes, it's extremely important, in my opinion. The governments have to step up now and express how appalled they are by this, and Egypt will realize that they cannot defy the whole world. You know, this isit's already beenI mean, they're very grateful for the journalists constantly covering this and keeping the story alive. And now it's time for, you know, the diplomats to start getting into this, as well, and pressure has to continue.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you both for being with us.
ADEL FAHMY: This is the only way we can get results.
Journalism in Egypt is now a Crime - and OK with the USA. - Magda Hassan - 24-06-2014
I've been watching the fall out of this with wry amusement. Also great sadness for the men and their families. Kerry looks like he may threaten to hold his breath for a whole minute to teach those Egyptians the meaning of press freedom. The military aid keeps flowing their way unobstructed and we keep selling them meat and wheat etc. Our government here, who is so on the nose for almost everyone in the region and within, is outraged at the sentence for one of our journalists but not for our other journalist stuck in the Ecuadorian embassy for the past 2 years and one year house arrest before that. Unfortunately, with impeccable timing, just last week the government also unilaterally and with no consultation have decided to break with decades of international convention and no longer refer to East Jerusalem and the Palestinian West Bank as occupied territory but as 'disputed' territory. As if there is some doubt about it. This has caused outrage with all our many Arab and Islamic trading partners who are now considering boycotting our products and services. They sure as hell are not going to be giving us any help in other matters when we need it. In fact I'm just pleased they haven't declared war on us. Indonesia is the largest Islamic nation in the world and is our immediate neighbour. We have regularly invaded their territory by navy and have been caught spying on them, stealing their oil and listening to the President's wife personal phone calls.
Journalism is now a crime in many places. Not just Egypt. The civilised west would love to disappear some and silence others. They continue to persecute their own. They still collaborate in building the fascist new world. But they just can't say so. Not yet.
Journalism in Egypt is now a Crime - and OK with the USA. - Magda Hassan - 24-06-2014
Besides waiting for an equal defence of Julian Assange and the judicial abuse and set up he has been subjected to for years we are yet to see denouncement of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia for their draconian treatment of journalists and repressive media.
Journalism in Egypt is now a Crime - and OK with the USA. - Peter Lemkin - 24-06-2014
Magda Hassan Wrote:Besides waiting for an equal defence of Julian Assange and the judicial abuse and set up he has been subjected to for years we are yet to see denouncement of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia for their draconian treatment of journalists and repressive media.
And one could EASILY name many American journalists in the USA who died under 'mysterious' circumstances!...usually after or during researching/writing 'National Security'-related stories.
By the way, on Assange, he just announced two days ago that someone[s] are threatening his children and mother with death threats......
Journalism in Egypt is now a Crime - and OK with the USA. - Peter Lemkin - 25-06-2014
Kerry is now doing a very sad public backpeddling - as he had heaped praise on the new dictator in Egypt just one day before the Al Jazeera 3 verdict in the Egyptian Kangaroo Court. That day before he also announced that the USA would go ahead with giving military aircraft and other items, which had temporarily been held up in the political confusion in Egypt. US law forbids giving any military aid of any kind to a country that has undergone a coup - so that word was forbidden in Washington and is to this day. When asked if, given the draconian and unlawful verdict, Kerry would now again stop the hand over of the military aid and equipment, he demurred and indicated it would be 'studied'.....going on to mention the big lie that Egypt had participated, along with Israel, USA and other 'allies' in thwarting 'terrorism' [and hinting that the Muslim Brotherhood was a terrorist organization, as the Egyptian military so labels them]. Oh, and Kerry said [by way of explanation] that the half a billion in military aid and equipment was not going to the Egyptian 'Government', but to the Egyptian Military...go figure!:
: What Egypt has now is worse than Mubarak - who was horrible. So much for their 'revolution' - which was masterfully choreographed and hijacked by the USA [and friends] along with the ruling elite in Egypt! The chilling effect on journalism, worldwide, and in Egypt specifically is clearly the intent and the actuality. More and more I see militarism, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, neo-fascism, attacks on rights and free-speech and action rising all over the world, with only a fig-leaf/facade of democracy/open-society temporarily portrayed. The war on terror is the main 'excuse' used now by all countries. The stellar event [but not the only false-flag exemplar] was the magic show of 9-11-01. It was a World changer and only exposing the lies behind it can ever hope to begin to undo the march toward Global Fascism and Global Police State, IMHO.
Journalism in Egypt is now a Crime - and OK with the USA. - Peter Lemkin - 25-06-2014
#FreeAJStaff: Al Jazeera Reporter Sentenced in Absentia Decries Egypt's Imprisonment of 3 Colleagues
Protests are continuing across the globe calling for Egypt to release three Al Jazeera journalists sentenced to between seven and 10 years in prison. Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were convicted on Monday of "spreading false news" in support of the Muslim Brotherhood, deemed by the government a "terrorist group." The sentencing came down one day after Secretary of State John Kerry visited Cairo to meet with Egypt's new president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and herald the resumption of stalled U.S. military aid. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Egypt is holding at least 11 other journalists in prison, placing Egypt among the world's worst repressors of media freedom. We are joined by Al Jazeera correspondent Sue Turton, who was among nine journalists sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison during the same trial. We also hear from PBS NewsHour chief foreign correspondent Margaret Warner on how Fahmy saved her life.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Journalists are continuing protests across the globe over Egypt's sentencing of three Al Jazeera journalists to between seven and 10 years in prison. Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were convicted on Monday of, quote, "spreading false news" in support of the Muslim Brotherhood, deemed by the government a "terrorist group." On Tuesday, staffers at the BBC took part in a one-minute silent protest. James Harding is BBC's news director.
JAMES HARDING: Well, I think there are two things. I think there's a simple thing, which is to send a message to people in Egypt. You know, this is a country which, obviously, as we've been reporting on the BBC, on all news outlets, is going through an extraordinary set of changes. And this is an important principle, we think, for Egypt, but for people around the world, the principle of journalistic freedom. And we want to do that in a considered and measured way, and that's why we chose an act of solidarity, a silent protest, a way of standing alongside those people, those journalists who have been imprisoned, but to try and raise a message. In addition to that, we've drafted a letter that we're sending to President el-Sisi. It's been signed by a host of news organizations, from NBC to Sky to ITN. And we're going to be sending that, as well, which makes a more detailed case. But in this moment, it was for journalists to stand with our fellow journalists.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: That was James Harding, the BBC's news director. Peter Greste used to work at the BBC. At Channel 4 News in Britain and other news outlets, journalists placed black tape across their mouths in solidarity with their jailed colleagues. Online, the hashtag #FreeAJStaff has been trending for days.And the Al Jazeera reporters are not alone. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Egypt is currently holding at least 11 other journalists in prison, placing Egypt among the world's worst repressors of press freedom.
AMY GOODMAN: Monday's sentencing of Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed came down one day after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met in Cairo with Egypt's new president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the former general who led the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi last July. The Obama administration partially suspended aid to Egypt but has avoided a full cutoff by refusing to deem Morsi's ouster a "coup." At a news conference in Cairo, Kerry said he expects a full resumption of U.S. military aid in the coming months, beginning with around $575 million already released in the last 10 days.
On Tuesday, President Sisi said he will not intervene in the sentencing of the journalists. While the three Al Jazeera journalists were sentenced to between seven and 10 years in jail, another nine journalists were charged in absentia and sentenced to 10 years. One of those journalists joins us now.
Sue Turton is a correspondent at Al Jazeera who has covered Afghanistan, Libya, Syria extensively for the network. She previously worked at Channel 4 News in England. And she's joining us from the Al Jazeera studios in Doha, Qatar.
Sue, welcome to Democracy Now! Can you respond to the sentencing in both the case of your three colleagues, who will now spend seven to 10 years in jail, unless there's a pardon or a commutation, as well as your own in absentia?
SUE TURTON: I think all of the verdicts left us all here at Al Jazeera quite stunned. We dared to believe that the verdict would be not guilty, because we had sat and watched the court sessions over the past few months, and we'd seen absolutely no evidence that the prosecution had brought that proved in any way, shape or form the charges against us, these charges that we supposed aided and abetted the Muslim Brotherhood, which the Egyptian authorities have now deemed a terrorist organization.
Just to slightly take you one step back, that decision to deem them terrorists wasn't made until December. A very basic point, I left Egypt in November. I had been covering the country since the coup last summer that removed the Muslim Brotherhood from power, like many international journalists. And I had been covering all sorts of different stories, including the protests and the politics, but I hadn't reported anything differently to all the other international journalists. And the very fact that I had left the country before the Muslim Brotherhood was even deemed a terrorist organization makes it ridiculous that I should have been seen as aiding and abetting this group.
But just to move you back to my colleagues in prison, you know, there was nothing in the evidence that proved anyway that they had done anything other than be straightforward, balanced, fair reporters. So, the reaction, really, was one of shock and disbelief. And now, I suppose, it's really building to anger, to be frank.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Sue, you said you witnessed or heard some of the court sessions. And apparently some of the evidence had absolutely nothing to do with what the three journalists were charged with. It included family vacation photos and footage of news reports from other networks and on completely unrelated subjects. So could you comment on that?
SUE TURTON: They made a big thing when they went into the hotel suite that we'd kind of been using as a makeshift office because, months before, they had raided our bureau, so we'd had to move to a hotel. They made a big thing of showingof leaking video of the arrest of my three colleagues. And they put ridiculous music to itit was actually the soundtrack from Thor, this really dramatic musicwith the release. And in this video, you see that they show pictures of the hard drives and the computers that were being used and a lighting stand and a tripod and a camera. And to them, you know, this is sort of showing the evidence that was found in thiswhat they deemed the Marriott cell, after the hotel we were staying in. And they used this evidence in court. And they basically just showed the hard drive that they had found in Peter Greste's room. And it was ridiculous, to be frank. There were pictures from a bulletin from Sky News Arabia of a horse galloping around a paddock. I mean, you know, it would be funny if it wasn't so serious that my colleagues are now incarcerated for years on end. There were pictures, as you say, of Peter Greste's family on holiday. There were pictures of a documentary he made when he used to work for the BBC in Somalia, an award-winning documentary.
This is one of the reasonyou mentioned earlier that there has been this vigil outside the BBC and many other media organizations in the last few days, because Peter is so respected as a brilliant journalist innot just in the region that he usually covers, in East Africa, but he has been all over the world for a number of organizations. And everybody is aghast that they should have been accused of these things, let alone convicted. And I will put my hand on my heart and say the same for his other two cellmates, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, strong, balanced reporters that helped me enormously when I was trying to cover Cairo, to understand the complexities of the story in Egypt. And these guys are now convicted with the flimsiest of evidence brought into court.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to Margaret Warner, the chief foreign affairs correspondent for PBS NewsHour. She worked with Mohamed Fahmy in Cairo during the Egyptian revolution. In 2011, Warner and a television crew were caught in the midst of a violent demonstration. She talked to Al Jazeera about how Fahmy saved their lives.
MARGARET WARNER: I first met Mohamed Fahmy about three days before the incident, when, through a local connection, he came to our editing suite in the hotel room and provided the voiceover for our Egyptian characters, whom we wanted translated into English. It was the afternoon after a mob had stormed the Israeli Embassy overnight, managed to penetrate to the upper floors, pull down the Israeli flag and hoist the Egyptian flag. And when we arrived back there, there were still young men out in front, but did not look particularly dangerous.
Our crew, our camera crew, went in for closer filming while I and the driver at the time and another young Egyptian producer with me waited in the van, so we could quickly get away. The driver abandoned the car for whatever reason. People were lying in front of the car and started to knock on the car. Just then, a mob approached across these five lanes, and I could see that our local producer and my cameraman and my producer were being pursued by this moband Mohamed Fahmy. And my driver had abandoned the car, so I leapt over theyou know, the middle of the seat, jumped into the van, as Mohamed Fahmy held onto the back railing and said, "Drive, drive." And this mob in front of mehe said, "Just drive through them. I'm going to get you out of here." That's what happened. And for the next five or six minutes, he directed me down this side street and this side street and this side street, and we finally managed to get to a safe place. He absolutely saved our lives.
I'm no legal expert, but I can to you that Mohamed Fahmy struck me on both occasions as nothing more and nothing less than a professional journalist.
AMY GOODMAN: That was Margaret Warner, well known in the United States, PBS NewsHour chief foreign affairs correspondent, describing her experience in Egypt with one of the three jailed journalists, Mohamed Fahmy. I also wanted to turn to comments made by Peter Greste's father in Australia after he heard of the ruling. This is Juris Greste.JURIS GRESTE: This is a very dark time, not only for our family, but for journalism generally. We are devastated, shocked and dismayed at this finding. We are not usually a family of superlatives, but I have to say this morning my vocabulary fails to convey just how shattered we are. Journalism is not a crime, or you should all be behind bars. It's as simple as that. This man, our son Peter, is an award-winning journalist. He is not a criminal. He's not a criminal.
AMY GOODMAN: That is Peter Greste's father, Juris Greste, speaking from Australia. The foreign minister of Australia, Julie Bishop, also spoke out against what happened in Egypt and the sentencing of their national, this also as the anchor of one of Britain's main television news shows put tape over his mouth in protest of the sentencing by Egypt of the Al Jazeera reporters. This is Jon Snow on U.K.'s Channel 4.JON SNOW: On the day that Egypt condemned three journalists to seven years in jail, journalists across the world are expressing their condemnation by taping up their mouths, as we are in our own newsroom.
AMY GOODMAN: For our radio listeners, we're seeing the Channel 4 newsroom full of journalists with their mouths taped, holding signs that read "#FreeAJStaff." As the broadcast ends, the program's host, Jon Snow, also then puts tape over his own mouth. That silence was heardor not heardall over Britain as newsrooms went silent. Sue Turton, you yourself are British. Can you talk about your own background and what this kind of international support means and what a sentence in absentia means for you? You are not in jail, but you were also sentenced.SUE TURTON: Well, I've been a TV reporter for 25 years, many of those in the British TV industry. In fact, I was at Channel 4 News for 12 years. But since then, I moved to Al Jazeera. And, you know, I joined as the Afghanistan correspondent, but I covered the Arab uprisings for the last few years. I was in Libya for the whole revolution. And I've been in and out of Syria over the course of a year, as well, but, you know, every beat, reallyBeirut, Moscow, all over the world for Al Jazeera. And I said this before: I've been shot at, I've been shelled, I've been physically abused and attacked, and verbally, but I've never been accused of anything like this. And this is basically a conviction of terrorism that I now have hanging over my head.
Now, of course I'm not going to go back to Egypt. I would be in jail. But it's more serious than just Egypt. The African Union welcomed Egypt back into the fold just a few weeks ago. They had frozen their membership for quite some time during the revolution and the coup. But that means that if I were to go into an African country, it would be beholden on them to pass me over to the Egyptian authorities, because this isthis is agreement. If somebody as serious as a convicted terrorist enters their country, that's what they're supposed to do. And there are places in the Middle East that I've been warned to stay well away from. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates all back Egypt, all very much financially backing the new government in Egypt. So it's kind of frozen what was my kind of beat, if you like, the conflict zones, the war zones. Those areas, certainly, in Africa at the moment are still very much bubbling, and I would expect to be covering.
But the focus for me right now is just to try and keep this campaign going to try and build a crescendo. We've been so lucky to have so much solidarity, not just from the media outlets all over the world, but also many governments all over the world, leaders stepping up, saying, you know, this must not be allowed to happen. Even people like Mia Farrow, the actress, has come out calling for a travel boycott. People shouldn't go on holiday to Egypt, she's saying. So, we really are trying to keep that campaign, the momentum of that campaign going, and promising the guys in prison that we won't look away for a second. We won't let this campaign drop for a second until they are freed.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Sue, the Committee to Protect Journalists said that the trialcalled the trial, quote, "almost farcical" and said that the Al Jazeera journalists have become pawns in a conflict with Qatar over its support for the Muslim Brotherhood. Could you say something about why you think Al Jazeera journalists, in particular, have been targeted by the Sisi regime?
SUE TURTON: Well, our sister channel, Al Jazeera Arabic, is the most-watched Arabic channel in the region, and it was still broadcasting, as was the other Egyptian Al Jazeera in Egypt. And the domestic audience only really sees domestic news, and that means they only really see coverage that backs the government. There is no breadth of opinion. They don't get to talk to people who might not agree with the government anymore. So I certainly think that the Egyptian authorities wanted to shut Al Jazeera up. And the only reporters for Al Jazeera still on the ground were Al Jazeera English reporters. The Arabic reporters had pulled out, because it had become so difficult for them to operate. So, I think, in a way, we had just become an easy target. I don't think they particularly wanted to target Al Jazeera English, but that's what they did.
But I think it's also very much on the record that Qatar and Egypt have really fallen out. Qatar did back the Muslim Brotherhood financially, very much backed President Mohamed Morsi when he was elected to power after the revolution, and had pinned their colors to the Muslim Brotherhood mast, I guess. But that doesn't mean Al Jazeera has. It certainly doesn't mean Al Jazeera English has. And we areI think you're right: We are pawns in this huge global clash at the moment. And there is almost a sense, I think, that the Egyptian government has taken revenge for the Qatari authorities backing the Muslim Brotherhood, and they're taking it out on us, which is ludicrous. The Committee to Protect Journalists have got it completely right, because we are just journalists going out there trying to tell a story and very much committed to trying to tell a story on all sides. You know, they tried to make out in court that we were backing this one group, the Muslim Brotherhood. Why would I back one group? I've, as I say, been a journalist for 25 years. I have no allegiance with any group. I just try and tell it as I see it and as I hear it.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Sue Turton, very quickly, before we conclude, could you say what possibility there is for a pardon for your colleagues who are now in prison in Egypt?
SUE TURTON: That's been talked about a lot. A lot of people have asked that question. We did hear the president, President Sisi, just yesterday saying that he would not get involved in the judicial process, but I know that there is a lot of international pressure, a lot of it behind the scenes, now on Egypt to possibly consider a pardon. We're also going through the legal ramifications of whether there could be an appeal. There's also a system in the Egyptian legal system, a kind of a court that looks at the process of the legal decision that was made in the court a couple of days ago. And if there's any holes in that process, if it's seen that they didn't follow the letter of the law either in the arrest or in the actual court proceedings, there is a chance there that they could throw the conviction out. It's a big "if" at the moment, and we are talking to lawyers. We're trying to take stock of what's happened and work out what our next best move is to try and get the guys out of prison.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Sue Turton, we have only 30 seconds, but U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Sisi the day before the convictions. While there were words of protest from the U.S. government on all of your convictions, the fact is, the U.S. is releasing hundreds of millions of dollars of military aid to Egypt as we speak. Your thoughts on this and what this means for your verdicts and sentencing?
SUE TURTON: When I heard that the U.S. administration had agreed to release that money, I thought they had had an assurance from the government that the verdict would be going towards not guilty. And I also got that sense when John Kerry released a statement straight after the verdict. It was an anguished statement. It called the verdict draconian and chilling and called for a pardon. And I have the sense that the Egyptian authorities almost pulled the rug from under the U.S. government's feet, because when I was in D.C. a few months ago, I was talking to State Department, and they were very much saying they were very behind us or backing us, as they brought up our case every time they spoke to Egypt. And it was very suspicious, the fact that Kerry sort of agreed that they would release this money just before the verdict, and then the verdict came down as [guilty]. So I hope and pray they are doing everything they can now to speak to the Egyptian authorities, to the president, and say, "You can't do this. You have to recognize you can't behave this way towards journalists, if you want the relationship between the U.S. and Egypt to continue."