Egypt To Release Hunger-Striking Al Jazeera Journalist

Egypt’s prosecutor general has ordered the release of Al
Jazeera Arabic journalist Abdullah Elshamy on medical
grounds, ending almost a year of imprisonment without
charge.
A statement from the prosecutor’s office on Monday said
Elshamy, who has been on hunger strike since January,
would be set free due to “health conditions.” The
statement said 13 other people would be freed on the
same grounds.
Elshamy, born in Egypt but raised in Nigeria, has been
on hunger strike for 147 days in protest of his
prolonged imprisonment without charge. He was
arrested on 14 August 2013 while covering the violent
dispersal of a sit-in by supporters of Islamist president
Mohamed Morsi, who was overthrown by the army in
July.
Commenting on the Egyptian prosecutor’s statement that
Elshamy will be released, Al Jazeera spokesperson
Osama Saeed said, “This is a relief rather than a cause
for celebration. Abdullah has been through a terrible
ordeal for over ten months. He’ll want to spend time
with his family and recuperate. When he’s ready, we
look forward to seeing him back in action, doing the
vital job of journalism that he so clearly loves.”
Al Jazeera English journalists Peter Greste, Baher
Mohammed and Mohammed Fahmy are still behind
bars, and Al Jazeera continues to call for their freedom.
A verdict in their case is due on 23 June 2014.
In a final plea from defence lawyers, the court
yesterday was reminded that this “trial is not a trial for
these defendants alone – but a trial of all journalists.”
Fahmy, who was allowed to address the judge before
the case was adjourned, also said: “This case is a
political case.”
Saeed said, “Yesterday was the final summation by the
defense. Again the weaknesses of the prosecution case
have been exposed. On the balance of arguments, Al
Jazeera hopes the judge will take into consideration the
facts presented to him and acquit Peter, Baher and
Mohammed of any wrong doing. On June 23rd, the
entire world will be watching Egypt to see whether they
uphold the values of press freedom.”
Previous court dates have bizarrely included the
prosecution showing footage of Sky News Arabia
tourism reports, BBC podcasts, songs by Gotye,
photoshopped images of Fahmy, Greste’s family photos,
and some of Greste’s award-winning work from East
Africa.
Calls for the release of the Al Jazeera staff have been
made from the White House, the British Foreign and
Commonwealth Office and the European Union.
Similarly public calls of support for the #FreeAJStaff
campaign have been made from prominent media
personalities with over 60,000 people supporting the
#FreeAJStaff campaign, which has had over 1.2 billion
impressions on Twitter. Various media freedom and
human rights groups have also issued statements
ranging from the Committee to Protect Journalists, the
International Press Institute, Amnesty International and
The Foreign Correspondents Association of East Africa.