(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Al Jazeera yesterday condemned the sentencing of three of its journalists - Egyptian Baher Mohamed, Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Australian Peter Greste - by an Egyptian court to three years in jail as a "deliberate attack on media freedom", and said it would appeal the verdict.
Officials of Al Jazeera told reporters at a news briefing here yesterday that an appeal would be filed as soon as the Cairo court has explained its verdict.
The TV network also vowed to intensify its campaign to get its journalists freed.
Legal officer of the network Farah Al Muftah said at the news event that Al Jazeera would not give up. She said once details of the verdict are had an appeal would be filed in Egypt's highest court, the Court of Cassation.
After the details are released there would be 60 days to file an appeal in the court of cassation, she said.
Giles Trendle, acting managing director of Al Jazeera English, said at the news conference that the company was in a state of shock. He added that international campaign to get the journalists released will be re-launched and intensified.
"Today's (yesterday's) verdict is yet another deliberate attack on press freedom," he said. "It is a dark day for the Egyptian judiciary. It (the judiciary) has compromised its own independence instead of defending liberty and the free and fair media." Al Jazeera's head of international and media relations, Osama Saeed, called the verdict "grotesque".
Al Jazeera said that the "whole case has been politicised and has not been conducted in free and fair manner". "Today's verdict defies logic and common sense," said Dr Mostefa Souag, Al Jazeera Media Network's acting director-general.
"Our colleagues Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy will now have to return to prison, and Peter Greste is sentenced in absentia. There is no evidence proving that our colleagues in any way fabricated news or aided or abetted terrorist organizations and at no point during the long drawn-out retrial did any of the unfounded allegation stand up to scrutiny".
Al Jazeera will continue to call for the freedom of its journalists and an end to the ordeal for Baher, Peter and Mohamed and six Al Jazeera staff who were sentenced in absentia, said the statement.
The support shown for Baher, Peter and Mohamed has been loud and unified and has come from every corner of the world - from world leaders, journalists, human rights organisations and the general public, Souag said. "Journalism is not a crime".
Meanwhile, the network said on its website that the Cairo court's decision had drawn global condemnation and floods of messages on social media. The world has reacted loudly to the sentencing, said the Al Jazeera statement.
Egyptian Baher Mohamed, Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Australian Peter Greste were all found guilty of aiding a "terrorist organisation", a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, which was outlawed in Egypt after the army overthrew president Mohamed Mursi in 2013.
A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid bin Raad, said: "We are very disturbed by these three sentences and the extra pressure it creates on journalists in Egypt who are just trying to do their jobs". The European Union said the verdict represented "a setback for freedom of expression in Egypt".
Canada's foreign ministry has called on for the immediate release of Fahmy while Australia's Foreign Minister Julia Bishop said she was dismayed by the court decision. Amnesty International's Director for the MENA, Philip Luther, condemned the "farcical verdict which strikes at the heart of freedom of expression in Egypt".
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.