Al Jazeera English Journalists Jailed In Egypt For More Than 100 Days - Foreign Affairs

source:http://www.naijaspies.com/al-jazeera-english-journalists-jailed-in-egypt/#more-79
Al Jazeera English journalists jailed in Egypt. Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy, and Baher Mohamed have been held in jail in Egypt for more than 100 days.

On Monday, the network urged the international community to support its call for their release by sending their own personal messages on social media using the campaign hashtag, #FreeAJStaff.

A fourth Al Jazeera journalist, Abdullah al-Shami, has been held in Egypt for more than six months and has been on hunger strike since January 23. His detention was extended for an additional 45 days on March 13.

They were arrested because of a series of charges including being involved in the protests in Cairo’s Ramses Square.

Al Anstey, the managing director of Al Jazeera English said: “Mohamed, Baher, and Peter have now been behind bars in Egypt for 100 days for simply doing their job, and for carrying out the highest quality journalism.

“The charges against them are false and baseless, so there is no justification whatsoever in the detention of innocent journalists for such an outrageous amount of time. We continue to call for their immediate release and for the release of our colleague from Al Jazeera Arabic, Abdullah Al Shamy, who has been behind bars for 236 days.”

“We are very grateful for the immense support of our staff, from right around the world. The response to their detention has been outstanding. The campaign is focused on the release of our four staff, but is fundamentally a stand in the defence of journalism itself, and a call for people everywhere to have a right to be heard and the right to know what is really going on in their world.”

Now the news company has started a twitter campaign #FreeAjStaff to press home their demands. With their current campaign, a worldwide awareness is expected to pressure Egypt to release their staff.

More than 40,000 people have been actively involved in the campaign for the release of the journalists, with events held in more than 30 countries and in every continent.

There have been more than 800 million impressions of #FreeAJStaff on Twitter and there have been repeated calls from governments, international institutions and media organizations for an end to the imprisonment of the journalists.

On the 11th of April, Prosecutors are unable to produce video footage that they say is the basis of their case against journalists Peter Greste, Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed; men, accused of conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood to broadcast false reports about civil strife in Egypt. They were however ordered to return to jail until next court session, scheduled for April 22.

Egypt has been on turmoil since July 3,2013 after the Army deposed elected president Morsi on the grounds of public uprisings. Many pro Morsi groups have been targeted including the famous Muslim Brotherhood.