Egypt: Jailed Al Jazeera Reporters To Appeal Sentence

By Staff Writer

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has said he wishes imprisoned Al Jazeera journalist, including Australian Peter Greste had not been put on trial Monday July 7, in the president's first encouraging remarks about a case that has sparked a global outcry.

The three journalists; Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Cairo bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy and producer Baher Mohamed were sentenced last month to between seven and 10 years in jail in a controversial ruling.

They were convicted of charges including spreading false news that harmed national security and aiding a terrorist group identified by the authorities as the Muslim Brotherhood. The ruling has sparked a flurry of international condemnation and heightened fears of the growing muzzling of media dissent in Egypt.

The June 23 sentencing had had a "very negative effect", Sisi conceded to Egyptian journalists during a roundtable on Sunday July, according to the mass circulation daily Al-Masry Al-Youm."The verdict had very negative effects,"

 "I wish they'd been deported right after they were arrested instead of being put on trial," the former army chief added, stressing that he "had no hand on the verdict."

The sentencing, came a day after US Secretary of State John Kerry visited the newly elected President Sisi in a show of support, was seen as deeply embarrassing for America's top diplomat.

Washington described the sentencing of the journalists as "draconian" and called on Sisi to release them, while the United Nations said imprisoning them was "obscene".

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said the government was shocked at the verdict. 

Both western powers have called on new El-Sisi to pardon the jailed journalists who can still appeal the sentences. 

Egyptian authorities have been incensed by the coverage of the Qatar-based satellite network Al Jazeera since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last year and an ensuing state crackdown on his supporters.

The network has contributed to straining ties between Cairo and Doha, which Egypt accuses of backing Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group, now banned and declared a terrorist organization.

The family of Australian Greste said they were encouraged by Sisi's remarks.

Greste's brother Andrew, who has just returned from Egypt, welcomed the president's comments as "heartening" in comments to reporters in Brisbane, Australia.

"I'm sure images of Peter in the cage in the court are not images Egypt really wants distributed around the world," he said. "And the publicity they're getting out of this I'm sure is not the publicity any country would want."

With Sisi saying he would not interfere in the country's judicial process, the brother made it clear however that he was not certain if the president's comments would bring a resolution.

Most Western observers described the trial as a sham, saying it relied on flimsy evidence or no evidence at all. 

But in the meeting with the media, Sisi appeared to regret the blowback from the trial, whereas he had previously declined to comment on court rulings.

The sentences can be appealed, a process that can take months. Egypt's constitution allows the president to issue a clemency, but experts argue the appeals process must be exhausted first.