Dismay over latest postponement in Al-Jazeera trial

“This latest of many postponements just increases the tension surrounding the Al-Jazeera trial and prolongs the agony for the station’s three journalists,” said Alexandra El Khazen, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Middle East and Maghreb desk. “It also defies the entire world, which is awaiting the outcome of the trial with such interest. We reiterate our appeal to the Egyptian authorities to drop all the charges against Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste, who are not guilty of any crime.” According to the Egyptian media, the long-awaited verdict hearing scheduled for 30 July was cancelled on the grounds of Judge Hassan Farid’s poor health without the lawyers or journalists being notified in advance. The expectation ahead of today’s hearing was even greater but, as soon as it began, a new judge announced that it was being postponed yet again. According to an Agence France-Presse journalist who was there, it was postponed because some of the co-defendants could not be brought to the court. US secretary of state John Kerry’s visit to Cairo today and French President Francois Hollande’s visit on 6 August for the inauguration of the new Suez Canal had fuelled hopes that verdicts would finally be announced today and that the journalists would be released. Egypt’s judicial system and government would thereby have signalled a readiness to respect media freedom. Instead, the delay shows that the trial of Al-Jazeera’s journalists is not a priority for the regime and that any pressure being applied by the international community is having no effect. Fahmy, Mohamed and Greste (who is being tried in absentia because he was deported to Australia on 1 February under a presidential decree) will now have to wait another four weeks in order to learn their fate. If not acquitted, they are facing up to ten years in prison. If convicted, they will be able to appeal. With at least 15 journalists currently detained in connection with their work, Egypt is the world’s fourth biggest prison for media personnel (after China, Eritrea and Iran). It is ranked 158th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.