Fahmy’s release in ‘final stages’
Canadian expected to be second Al-Jazeera journalist freed from Egyptian prison
Egypt appears set to release Mohamed Fahmy, 40, the Egyptian-Canadian journalist who has been imprisoned for more than a year, convicted of falsifying news during civil unrest and having terrorist links to the Muslim Brotherhood.
“His deportation is in its final stages. We are hopeful,” said his fiancée, Marwa Omara.
Paperwork that would allow Fahmy, the Al-Jazeera English bureau chief in Cairo, to be deported to Canada, possibly after renouncing his Egyptian citizenship, was being prepared Sunday, an Egyptian security official told the Reuters news agency.
It follows the deportation to Australia of Fahmy’s colleague and co-accused, Peter Greste, 49, who landed Sunday on Cyprus on the first leg of his journey home.
Together with colleague Baher Mohamed, the men were arrested over their coverage of the violent crackdown on Islamist protests following the military overthrow of president Mohammed Morsi in 2013. Egyptian authorities accused them of providing a platform for Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, now declared a terrorist organization.
The three were also convicted for spreading false information, faking reports to show that the country was on the verge of civil war and for aiding the Brotherhood’s goal of portraying Egypt as a failed state. They were all sentenced to seven years. Mohamed received an additional three years for possession of a spent bullet.
The apparent willingness of Egypt to free the men, who were granted a retrial earlier this month, follows pitched international condemnation of their detentions by human rights groups and governments. Egyptian news reports said Greste was released following the “approval” of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.
An Egyptian official said the releases were made possible by a new deportation law that allows the president to deport foreign defendants or convicts in the interests of national security, which was thought to be a pretext for ending the diplomatic uproar. El-Sisi repeatedly has expressed a desire to end the case.
It is not clear what that means for the fate of Mohamed, who is an Egyptian citizen.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird raised Fahmy’s case with his Egyptian counterpart during a visit to Egypt in January.
“We welcome these positive developments,” the Canadian government said in a statement. “We remain very hopeful that Mr. Fahmy’s case will be resolved shortly.”
“It is vital that in the celebratory fanfare surrounding (Greste’s) deportation the world does not forget the continuing ordeal of Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy, who remain behind bars at Tora prison in Cairo,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa.
“The Egyptian authorities have it in their power to finish this properly today, and that is exactly what they must do,” said acting Al-Jazeera director general Mostefa Souag. He said the Qatar-based network “will not rest until Baher and Mohamed also regain their freedom.”
One of Fahmy’s lawyers is Amal Clooney, wife of film star George Clooney. She has described his convictions as coming at the end of a “show trial.”
During the trial, local media encouraged the perception that Al-Jazeera is set on destabilizing the country, calling the journalists “The Marriott Cell,” because they worked from a hotel. Lawyers similarly argued that the trial was motivated by the political rift between Qatar and Egypt, over Qatar’s support for former president and senior Muslim Brotherhood figure Morsi, whom el-Sisi, then a top military officer, ousted in 2013.
“Mr. Fahmy is very pleased that Peter was released and hopes that he will be released soon as well,” said another of his lawyers, Lorne Waldman.
“I think it’s a pretty hopeful sign.”
There had been speculation the three might be released last weekend as part of pardons expected to mark the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 25, 2011, uprising in Egypt that ousted longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
But the weekend passed without the expected release of prisoners.
Fahmy’s mother released an open letter through a news website Sunday imploring the Egyptian president to use his powers to intervene in the case and pardon her son. The letter, signed by Wafa Abdel Hamid Bassiouni, notes that Fahmy requires urgent medical care for his hepatitis C and a severe injury to his shoulder.
“It hurts me to see his health deteriorating while I have little access to him,” Bassiouni wrote.
“It breaks my heart that the son of a patriotic family like ours has been wrongfully framed as a terrorist in a trial that produced no evidence to marry with the accusations.”