Egypt court orders retrial for jailed Al-Jazeera journalists

Three Al Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt are to face a retrial. The decision, which was made by an appeals court after a hearing lasting a few minutes, has given families of the men fresh hope that they might be freed. However, there were mixed emotions among relatives at Egypt’s Court of Cassation after the trio were denied bail. Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy, Australian Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohamed have been held since December 2013 in a case that has provoked an international outcry and widespread calls for their freedom.

He’s just a journalist who was doing his job. They were accused of being members of the Muslim Brotherhood, fabricating news and harming national security, and calling for a civil war in Egypt. All these accusations are faulty and there is no evidence whatsoever - we don’t understand why they are in prison.

Marwa Omara, fiancee of Mohamed Fahmy

The arrests followed the ousting of Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and their original trial was dismissed as a sham by rights groups. Egyptian authorities had accused the Qatar-based Al Jazeera of acting as a mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood, which had swept to power after the country’s 2011 revolution. Marwa Omara, the fiancee of Mohamed Fahmy, said the families were disappointed that the journalists had not been released before the retrial gets under way. She said her fiance was in poor health with hepatitis B, but is in “high spirits”.

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