| Mikoyan | 06-22-2015 11:47 PM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by underscore
(Post 8651148)
He was sentenced to 7 years, but that's a pretty bad example you're picking as he's out on bail after less than a year and Canadian foreign affairs was working to help him. Even if you ignore that, the charges have to be equivalent to Canadian ones that land within the section of the Criminal Code I quoted above, and from what I can gather about the nonsense Egypt threw against him they do not. Maybe I'm missing something here but please read the section of the Criminal Code above and tell me how being charged with fabricating footage is equivalent to any of that.
| I'm happy to even *find* an example. Quote:
(A) in whole or in part for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause, and
| He was being accused of being a member and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. Quote:
(B) in whole or in part with the intention of intimidating the public, or a segment of the public, with regard to its security, including its economic security, or compelling a person, a government or a domestic or an international organization to do or to refrain from doing any act, whether the public or the person, government or organization is inside or outside Canada,
| Accused of threatening Egypt's national security, and creating a "terrorist media network." Quote:
and E) causes serious interference with or serious disruption of an essential service, facility or system, whether public or private, other than as a result of advocacy, protest, dissent or stoppage of work that is not intended to result in the conduct or harm referred to in any of clauses (A) to (C),
| Accused of threatening Egypt's national security, and creating a "terrorist media network." Quote:
and includes a conspiracy, attempt or threat to commit any such act or omission, or being an accessory after the fact or counselling in relation to any such act or omission, but, for greater certainty, does not include an act or omission that is committed during an armed conflict and that, at the time and in the place of its commission, is in accordance with customary international law or conventional international law applicable to the conflict, or the activities undertaken by military forces of a state in the exercise of their official duties, to the extent that those activities are governed by other rules of international law.
| You don't have to actually take part in an actual successful event. Attempting, planning, helping or encouraging is enough.
He was on bail because they were retrying him on the charges. The first trial was was full of gems like: Quote:
The prosecution, on multiple occasions, aired video footage that was unrelated to Egypt, showed clips from networks other than Al Jazeera, and played sound recordings that were inaudible, presenting it as evidence.
“Previous court dates have bizarrely included the prosecution showing footage of Sky News Arabia tourism reports, BBC podcasts, songs by Gotye, photo-shopped images of Mohammed Fahmy, Peter Greste’s family photos, and some of Greste’s award-winning work from East Africa,” said Al Jazeera in a statement after a 16 June hearing.
On another occasion, three audio/visual witnesses for the prosecution were unable to recall the footage presented to them by the investigators. They could not identify if the footage constituted a crime, and one witness directly contradicted his written affidavit, and indicated the prosecutor added additional footage after it was viewed by the witnesses.
| His second trial is still ongoing. Prosecution lacks evidence of wrongdoing, retrial of Al Jazeera journalists told. | Toronto Star
Here's an op/ed from Mohamed himself, bolds are mine as he points out even Egyptians didn't like a law that treated citizens and non citizens differently, and he's a person that's directly impacted by this bill: Mohamed Fahmy: I'm a pawn in a geopolitical game | Toronto Star Quote:
The ongoing 18-month trial of we Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt has sparked unprecedented global debate about the rule of law, the ethics of journalism and free speech.
Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, the Egyptian president, decreed a deportation law in November 2014 while I was imprisoned for more than 400 days, to permit the extradition of non-Egyptian convicts or prisoners under investigation to their respective countries to serve their time or continue their trial.
Several weeks after the announcement, Egyptian secret service officers came to ask me to renounce my Egyptian citizenship so I could benefit from the new law. My initial reaction was an immediate refusal — I cherish both my Egyptian and Canadian citizenships. “This is from high above,’” I was told. “We want to help you get out of this case.”
The officer handed me a phone. To my surprise, it was a senior official: “Fahmy, we know you are patriotic and innocent,” he said. “Sign the documents. You can come back as a tourist and easily apply for it again. Nationality is in the heart, not just a piece a paper.”
I signed but still struggle today to describe the humiliating feeling as I stamped my finger prints on the official renunciation documents. I also signed an agreement that both the government and I would not disclose my renunciation in the media.
The decree stated that Ottawa would have to officially request my deportation and that is exactly what my lawyers and embassy did. We got assurances from both governments that it was a matter of days.
Sadly, an announcement from then Canadian foreign minister John Baird, who declared my deportation “imminent,” was premature.
My mixed emotions of joy for my buddy Peter Greste and the feeling of despair for myself got the best of me as I watched him freed while our third colleague Baher Mohamed and I faced a retrial.
The government in Egypt published confirmation of my renunciation of citizenship in the official paper. This was after I had already been wrongly framed as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood — designated a terrorist organization under Egyptian law.
There was never any evidence against me personally and the fact that I protested against the despicable group alongside millions of Egyptians didn’t resonate with the prosecutor who branded me as the ringleader of a terrorist group.
Overnight, I was branded as the man who “sold out” his country. Indeed, it was a first, for an Egyptian to drop his citizenship to get out of prison.
The backlash against me continued because my colleague Baher Mohamed held only Egyptian citizenship. Public opinion crystallized against a law that allows foreigners in the same case, facing the same charges, for the same evidence, to be let off the hook while their Egyptian co-defendants languish in jail.
In court I raised an Egyptian flag to make a point that nationality is not just a piece of paper. Indeed, I am planning to legally reclaim my citizenship at the appropriate time. I just hope Judge Hassan Farid, who is presiding over the retrial, understands that I am no traitor as he announces his new verdict next month.
Meanwhile the Canadian government has implemented a new law that allows ministers to revoke the Canadian citizenship of dual nationals convicted of terrorism. As I face bogus terrorism charges in Egypt, I now have to worry about Canada stripping my citizenship under this dangerous law that overrides the judiciary and tramples due process.
The failure of Stephen Harper’s government to gain my release when I renounced my Egyptian citizenship resonated again last month when the U.S. government won the deportation from Egypt of Mohamed Soltan, an American-Egyptian activist and Brotherhood sympathizer serving a life sentence, who had renounced his Egyptian citizenship secretly before his transfer was announced last month.
As my retrial reaches a conclusion I’m confident that on the basis of the evidence — or lack thereof — we should be acquitted, so that this long and very painful ordeal will be over and I can get on with my life. But I know this trial is influenced by factors other than evidence.
It is still possible that we will take the fall for violations committed by Al Jazeera in failing to obtain a proper operational licence, and that we will pay a heavy price for Qatar’s meddling in Egypt’s internal affairs — its well-documented sponsorship of the banned Muslim Brotherhood. I and my colleague have spent too long as pawns in geopolitical games in which we, as journalists, have no part. Perhaps our situation is a manifestation of the biblical tale of David the shepherd who defeated Goliath the mighty giant using only his slingshot and rock. But, the underdog here is only armed with words of truth and the world’s best lawyers who will hopefully prevail.
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