Canadian colleague close to release, the other Al-
Jazeera journalist arrested in Cairo faces
languishing in jail for an indefinite period
because he has only Egyptian nationality.
Under global pressure to release the prisoners,
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a decree
tailored for Greste and colleague Mohamed
Fahmy, allowing the deportation of foreigners
but overlooking Baher Mohamed in the process.
Greste, an acclaimed reporter for Al-Jazeera
English, was deported last week.
Fahmy, a dual national, had to renounce his
Egyptian citizenship and his release and
deportation to Canada is imminent, a
government official said.
But in the face of delays, prominent lawyer Amal
Clooney, who married Hollywood star George
Clooney last year, has requested a meeting with
Sisi to press Fahmy’s case, a letter obtained by
AFP on Saturday showed, leaving Mohamed in
the cold.
“We’re paying the price for being Egyptian,” his
embittered wife Jihan Rashid told AFP.
“It’s the peak of injustice for my husband to
remain in prison and be tried while his foreign
colleagues are freed,” Rashid said.
The three, all employees of the Qatari-owned Al-
Jazeera English broadcaster, were arrested in
December 2013 and tried for allegedly supporting
the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood in their
coverage.
The trial came against the backdrop of a cold
war between Egypt and Qatar, which supported
the Islamist movement of president Mohamed
Morsi, whom Sisi deposed in July 2013.
The three were sentenced to seven years in
prison, and the court handed Mohamed an
additional three years because police who
searched his home found a spent bullet casing
he had picked up at a protest.
A court in January ordered a retrial for the three,
without setting a date, but Mohamed is set to
stand alone in the dock.
