Al Jazeera staff sentenced to jail in Egypt #FreeAJStaff.
After 177 days of incarceration in Egypt, the three Al Jazeera English journalists went to court to hear the verdict in their case. Just the week before Al Jazeera Arab journalist, Abdullah al-Shami had been released so hopes were high for an acquittal. Instead the journalists, Mohamed Fahmy, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed were all sentenced to seven years in prison for, according to the court, ‘spreading false news’ and ‘aiding or joining the banned Muslim Brotherhood’. Baher Mohamed received an extra three years for having a used bullet casing in his possession at the time of his arrest.
The sentences provoked condemnation from Al Jazeera and news organisations around the world however the sentiment was not reflected in Egyptian media. Some mainstream news outlets in the country applauded the verdict, echoing a wider view of Al Jazeera - a network that had a central role in covering the Arab Spring and Tahrir Square – as having fallen from grace over a perceived bias in favour of the Muslim Brotherhood.
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