The least thing that can be said about Al Jazeera International staff trial is that it was a huge scandal.
Whether the trial itself or the evidence used to incriminate its over 20 defendants or its sentences; the whole affair is a real scandal for Egypt. For months those of us who have been following the case , know very well how scandalous it was and how insulting it was to the true concept of judiciary before Egypt.
The international reactions rejecting the sentence continued. Following Netherlands and UK , Australia summoned Egypt’s deputy ambassador to object officially the sentence against Peter Greste.
France also rejected the sentence demanding a new trial with a new independent investigation.
US officials are demanding President El-Sisi to pardon Al-Jazeera staff and the new elected president answered at the Military academy graduation ceremony that he would not interfere in judiciary which means that there will be no pardons.
Of course some speculate that the Al-Jazeera staff scandal will end up like the Foreign NGOs workers who left Egypt on the board of US military jet in 2011. Well I am afraid none of the Al-Jazeera staff is American or his father was a former secretary.
The Australian and British tweeps launched hashtags to boycott Egypt and not to travel to the country which is trying by all measures to mend its touristic financial losses in the past 3 years.
Renowned actress and activist as UN ambassador Mia Farrow joined those tweets and urged people not to come to Egypt.
BBC journalists as well Al Jazeera International showed their solidarity today online and offline to the imprisoned staff insisting that journalism is not a crime
Anyhow all this is outside Egypt.
Except for my friend Kareem Farid who showed his solidarity with Al Jazeera staff in a bold move , no Egyptian journalist showed his solidarity in Egypt with Al-Jazeera staff case.
Thanks to the mainstream media and Ultra-Nationalism and lies doses given to the public , the public opinion does not see anything wrong in the verdicts and some believe that those journalists tried to destabilize the country and spread lies.
Do not blame those people because what they are being fed in the media make them believe so. Different views let alone facts are not welcomed to be shared in the media , the only facts approved in the media are the facts approved by the regime. It is like living in a real life 1984.
Some journalists like renowned Ibrahim Eissa who used to say that journalist should be sent to jail are supporting the harsh sentences. Of course this is the last blunder for the former Pro-Revolutionary Current Ultra Pro- El Sisi supporter journalist Eissa.
The current Egyptian regime decided not to give a damn for this scandal as it learned from Mubarak’s regime not to be soft.
Already it current regime cares less for foreign pressures because simply its main financiers are now in the Gulf besides of course it received from the States half billion dollars earlier this week.
Why to care not to mention it seems that Egypt may play a role in that crisis of Iraq and we know that our military participation in any fight in the Gulf is not for free and millions are paid later.
The current regime is taking notes from regimes in Israel and in Africa on how to create human rights disasters and lower the ceiling of freedoms so people would ask for less and the world will get bored by time.
Now we are not speaking about the freedom of parties or laws for better supervision and political representations or reforms but rather fundamental freedoms like assembly and expression for God sake. Already in time of Adly Mansour , we had 41,163 detainees across the country in politics/Protests/terrorism related charges and cases.
We have over 1000 death sentences issued in one year where not less 100 death sentences are upheld in one of the trial where a Christian defendant is sharing the same fate of the Supreme guide of the Muslim Brother !!
Simply we are back to square one and if it were not for Peter Greste and other foreign defendants nobody would have cared
Whether the trial itself or the evidence used to incriminate its over 20 defendants or its sentences; the whole affair is a real scandal for Egypt. For months those of us who have been following the case , know very well how scandalous it was and how insulting it was to the true concept of judiciary before Egypt.
The international reactions rejecting the sentence continued. Following Netherlands and UK , Australia summoned Egypt’s deputy ambassador to object officially the sentence against Peter Greste.
France also rejected the sentence demanding a new trial with a new independent investigation.
US officials are demanding President El-Sisi to pardon Al-Jazeera staff and the new elected president answered at the Military academy graduation ceremony that he would not interfere in judiciary which means that there will be no pardons.
Of course some speculate that the Al-Jazeera staff scandal will end up like the Foreign NGOs workers who left Egypt on the board of US military jet in 2011. Well I am afraid none of the Al-Jazeera staff is American or his father was a former secretary.
The Australian and British tweeps launched hashtags to boycott Egypt and not to travel to the country which is trying by all measures to mend its touristic financial losses in the past 3 years.
Renowned actress and activist as UN ambassador Mia Farrow joined those tweets and urged people not to come to Egypt.
Want to see #Egypt's Pyramids? Skip it. You could end up in prison for 7 years for spying - they don't need ANY evidence to convict you.
— mia farrow (@MiaFarrow) June 24, 2014
EMERGENCY TOWN HALL MEETING on the imprisonment of journalists in #Egypt - WEDNESDAY at 2 pm, UNCA room, 3rd floor Secretariat #FreeAJStaff
— UNCA (@UNCANews) June 24, 2014
BBC journalists as well Al Jazeera International showed their solidarity today online and offline to the imprisoned staff insisting that journalism is not a crime
Except for my friend Kareem Farid who showed his solidarity with Al Jazeera staff in a bold move , no Egyptian journalist showed his solidarity in Egypt with Al-Jazeera staff case.
Thanks to the mainstream media and Ultra-Nationalism and lies doses given to the public , the public opinion does not see anything wrong in the verdicts and some believe that those journalists tried to destabilize the country and spread lies.
Do not blame those people because what they are being fed in the media make them believe so. Different views let alone facts are not welcomed to be shared in the media , the only facts approved in the media are the facts approved by the regime. It is like living in a real life 1984.
Some journalists like renowned Ibrahim Eissa who used to say that journalist should be sent to jail are supporting the harsh sentences. Of course this is the last blunder for the former Pro-Revolutionary Current Ultra Pro- El Sisi supporter journalist Eissa.
The current Egyptian regime decided not to give a damn for this scandal as it learned from Mubarak’s regime not to be soft.
Already it current regime cares less for foreign pressures because simply its main financiers are now in the Gulf besides of course it received from the States half billion dollars earlier this week.
Why to care not to mention it seems that Egypt may play a role in that crisis of Iraq and we know that our military participation in any fight in the Gulf is not for free and millions are paid later.
The current regime is taking notes from regimes in Israel and in Africa on how to create human rights disasters and lower the ceiling of freedoms so people would ask for less and the world will get bored by time.
Now we are not speaking about the freedom of parties or laws for better supervision and political representations or reforms but rather fundamental freedoms like assembly and expression for God sake. Already in time of Adly Mansour , we had 41,163 detainees across the country in politics/Protests/terrorism related charges and cases.
We have over 1000 death sentences issued in one year where not less 100 death sentences are upheld in one of the trial where a Christian defendant is sharing the same fate of the Supreme guide of the Muslim Brother !!
Simply we are back to square one and if it were not for Peter Greste and other foreign defendants nobody would have cared
Well, it looks like the whole Jan25 thing is going to end up like the Christian Democrats in Pinochet's Chile, asking for a coup only to change their mind when it is too late.
ReplyDeleteI'm seriously considering taking a job in Cairo as an English teacher, but this sort of thing is giving me serious second thoughts. Not only is it a bit dangerous (though I'm maybe a bit reckless there, I'm also considering Yemen) but I'm not sure if it wouldn't be better to boycott a regime and society like this.
Peter Greste is not a terrorist. The Egyptian government and the Egyptian army are, however, both terrorist organisations. Australia and all democratic countries should sanction both of those organisations (though they essentially are one and the same) until they can display a modicum of civilised behavior.
ReplyDeleteEgyptian ambassadors who defend Egyptian savagery are terrorist enablers and should be expelled from Australia and all democratic countries. The Egyptian army just can't keep its idiocy to itself. It had to go provoking most of the world.
Egyptians who claim that Greste is a terrorist are the true terrorists. Such people can't find their way out of an unlocked room with having shackles on and some sort of master guiding their every step.
Egyptians who think that their government is not viewed as joke by most of the outside world are crazy.
And yes, I support the release and granting of reparations to all of Egypt's political, economic, social, religious, and other prisoners who are being persecuted by this squalid autocracy, not just action for Greste.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with your comments . Where is the evidence ? !!!
ReplyDeletesince when in Egypt we need evidence to prove that some one is a criminal , every thing in Egypt is a a joke even Egypt itself . i totally support the release of all the detainees regardless their Political affiliation ..what happens in Egypt is a very big black point in the Egyptian history . BTW , i also agree 100 about what mia farrow said
ReplyDeleteThe Arab world became a huge cesspool made of obscurantism & corruption. May Egypt get out of this & show the way
ReplyDelete