Monday, June 23, 2014

#AJStafftrial : The shocking verdicts of the day

Today the judge will issue his sentence in the infamous Al-Jazeera staff trial. Just after few moments the world will know the fate of those journalists who found them stuck in prison since last December for no other reason except political fights between Cairo and Doha.
The Verdicts are here and they are disgusting and outrageous :
  • Peter Greste , Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fadel are sentenced to 7 years in maximum security prison. 
  • 10 years in prison sentence for the absentee defendants including foreign journalists  
  • Baher Mohamed got extra three years and LE 5000 for the possession of a bullet 
  • Anas El-Beltagy and Ahmed Ibrahim are acquitted. 
Foreign ambassadors are attending the trial including the ambassadors of UK , Canada and Australia. The families of the defendants including Greste are here and you can imagine how they feel. I feel so angry. These verdicts are issued one day after John Kerry's visit to Cairo.
You must know there were strong scenarios about today's verdict :
Scenario#1 : The defendants would be acquitted.
Scenario#2 : The defendants would be sentenced but they will be pardon by none other than newly elected President El-Sisi.
The second scenario will take place after the rejection of the appeal according to the law and the appeal will take ages.
This is a clear message to the whole world and journalists in Egypt : Journalism is a crime in
I feel angry and have no temper to discuss fundamental rights and facts. The whole world knows that this trial is a shame for God's sake.

Here is also another storify report about the international reactions following the sentencing. There is an uproar internationally. Netherlands and UK summoned the Egyptian ambassadors and there will be a discussion about the whole matter in the EU Foreign ministers' meeting tonight in Luxembourg

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