Al Jazeera staff held for one year in Egypt

December 29 marks a year to the day since three Al Jazeera journalists were arrested in Egypt in a case that sparked international outrage. Baher Mohamed, Mohamed Fahmy and Peter Greste were arrested in Cairo in 2013 under false charges of aiding the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and spreading false news. In June, Greste, an Australian, and Fahmy, an Egyptian-Canadian, received seven-year jail terms, while Mohamed, an Egyptian, was sentenced to 10 years. On Thursday, an appeal for the three jailed Al Jazeera journalists will be heard at Egypt’s Court of Cassation.

We’ve spent a year in sadness and we don’t know why he’s in prison. The whole household is sad in a way I can’t describe. We are adults, we can take it and understand, but what have the children done to deserve this?

Mohamed Fahmy’s wife Jehan

The court will look at the process behind the original trial, a process that Al Jazeera has always maintained was flawed. The court can either dismiss the entire case, uphold the verdict and the sentence, or order a new trial. President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is able to issue a presidential pardon, but he maintains that he will not interfere in the judicial process. The Egyptian government has defended the jailing of the journalists, arguing that it was not a political decision and that it is now up to the appeals process to determine what should happen next. Calls for the release of the Al Jazeera staff have previously been made by the White House, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the European Union, the Australian government and more than 150 rights groups.

Middle East peter greste