Supporters say defendants need to see verdict, which is still unreleased
Thirteen journalists sentenced to life in prison last month in Egypt and one sentenced to death plan to appeal the Cairo court's ruling - but are constrained from doing so because they still have not seen that ruling in full, a representative of their families told the International Press Institute (IPI).
The details of the ruling have not been revealed publicly beyond what the presiding judge, Mohamed Nagy Shehata, read out in court on April 11, and some of the journalists sentenced were not even allowed to be present when that took place.
Judge Shehata has sentenced hundreds of people to sentences of life behind bars or death in a series of several high-profile mass trials related, respectively, to events that occurred during Egypt's 2011 revolution, during the tenure of the Muslim Brotherhood-backed government of then-President Mohamed Morsi, and following Morsi's ouster in July 2013.
The 14 journalists were among 51 persons convicted in the so-called "Rabaa Operation Room" case. In a 12-hour operation that left hundreds of civilians and 10 police officers dead, authorities on Aug. 14, 2013 disbanded a protest camp in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.
The defendants are accused of plotting unrest and supporting Morsi following his ouster. The former president's backers, the Muslim Brotherhood, is now considered a terrorist organisation by the government and the current president and former head of the army, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has vowed to eliminate the Brotherhood.
The journalists were arrested in the weeks and months that followed the Rabaa crackdown. Authorities allege they supported the Muslim Brotherhood and distributed false news regarding police operations against protesters.
Journalist Waleed Abdel-Raouf Shalabi, 51, was sentenced to death for his alleged actions. He was arrested without a warrant on Sept. 28, 2013 during a family visit in Kafr Ayad, Abu Hamad. According to Mona Hedaya, who spoke to IPI from Qatar on behalf of the journalists' families, Shalabi is currently in solitary confinement.
"He was forbidden to leave his cell, see the sun and have papers, pens, books and even the Quran", Hedaya told IPI.
Hedaya, who identified herself as a friend of four of the sentenced journalists, said that lawyers are now preparing to appeal the verdict soon and that a potential second trial looms at a higher court.
"The sentence is incomprehensible", she said. "And the falsification of the news has never been proven".
Hedaya said she contacted the defence attorneys and that the appeal normally must be submitted within 60 days from the sentencing date.
But, she added: "The sentencing documents are essential for the appeal arguments prepared by the defence team. According to the Egyptian law, the official court papers and sentencing documents should be made available within 30 days from the actual sentencing date. So, the current delay in the issuing of sentencing documents is creating time constraints on the lawyers for preparation of their appeal."
According to information provided by Hedaya, three of the journalists were arrested on Aug. 25, 2013 at the home of Mohamed Soltan, a dual American-Egyptian citizen who was acting as a spokesperson for the Rabaa protest and who was wounded during the crackdown.
The three journalists, who were given life sentences, are Abdullah Elfakharany, 25, and Samhy Mostafa, 27, both journalists with Rassd News, and Mohamed Aladly, 30, a journalist at Misr25 and Amjad Channel. According to Hedaya, they were placed in overcrowded cells or transportation vehicles, were poorly fed and were even denied permission to speak to the judge and defend themselves.
Elfakharany wrote an article about his experience that was published earlier this week by Middle East Eye on World Press Freedom Day, May 3 - the second World Press Freedom Day he has spent in prison.
"I was naive...," he recounted in the article. "I thought that the world would rise up to defend me, my colleagues and the freedom of the press, which was nurtured in Egypt after the 25 January Revolution in 2011.
I thought all those press and human rights organisations, as well as opinion leaders who preach day and night about freedom of opinion and expression as essential values and principles, would do their best to stand in the face of flagrant violations against journalists in Egypt".
Elfakharany added that he "laughed out loud" when he saw photos of Egyptian foreign minister marching in Paris after the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
"Hasn't anyone asked the supposed Egyptian foreign minister about the number of journalists who have been killed during his reign?" he wrote. "Or about the number of journalists he threw behind bars while he marched in the name of their freedom?"
Elfakharany called the process during which he was sentenced to life "a monkey trial", noting: "The court did not provide a single example of the supposed false news by way of evidence against me. It also deprived me of my right to speak before the judge, or even to be present in court to hear the verdict and sentence myself".
Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted in an April 19 statement that the text of the verdict in the case was not immediately released.
Hedaya told IPI that promises were made then that it would be revealed "in a month's time". However, the verdict remains unreleased and she said that local media in Egypt still have not published details about evidence against the journalists on which the verdict is purportedly based.
HRW said that it obtained a copy of 107 pages of the government's file in the case which "showed that prosecutors presented no evidence other than testimony from a police major in the National Security Sector of the Interior Ministry to support their accusation that the defendants planned to use violence to overthrow the government".
According to the group, police maintained that the suspects were planning "operation rooms" intended to "publish 'rumors' and 'false news' that they allegedly knew would 'weaken the prestige of the state', 'spread terror', 'disturb the general security' ".
Other journalists also sentenced to life in prison in the case include Ahmad Subai, 40, a journalist at Aqsa channel; Yussef Abdelkareem, 31, a journalist at Alshabab channel; Hany Salah-Aldeen, 47, and Mosad Albarbary, 41, journalists at Misr25 channel; and Abduo Dasouqy, 38, a journalist with IkhwanWiki.
They were arrested between August 2013 and February 2014. According to Hedaya, they have faced solitary confinement, banned visits, a lack of medicine, torture, intimidation by dogs, insufficient food and lengthy interrogation.
Another five journalists - Khalid Hamza, Amr Farrag, Hassan Hosny Alqabany, Ibrahim Altaher and Magdy Abdellateef Hamouda - were sentenced in absentia to life in prison.
Rana Allam, former editor at The Daily News Egypt, told IPI that she could not evaluate the work of each journalist sentenced.
"But at the end of the day, it is true that more than 800 people (the most conservative figure) of mostly peaceful protesters were massacred in the sit-in, and security forces' brutality is not false news", she said. "Publicising such news is not a criminal act. It is worth mentioning here that the Muslim Brotherhood media is biased, advocates a certain political point of view, and at times is stretching the truth. But, this should not be the issue here. They should be free to say what they want."
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Allam commented that the state has been sending very strong messages during the past year with regards to media freedom.
"They indeed do not want freedom of speech and expression, and they do not want a free media," she said. "The state has closed down almost all opposition media outlets, the remaining few exercise heavy self-censorship and [this] verdict will lower the bar for press freedom even further down," she said. "The regime is on a mission to scare media professionals and they are doing a good job at that - journalists are now afraid for their lives.
"If the mere words of one police officer can send reporters to prison for life, then there is no justice, no law and no protection for media freedom. How can a journalist do her/his job in such an environment? The message of the state is clear: 'Be Silent'."
The Egypt Press Syndicate has called for the release of the 14 journalists who were sentenced on April 11. In February, the Al-Masry Al-Youm daily quoted Diaa Rashwan, head of the Syndicate, as saying that 24 journalists were in jail at the time and that most of them were facing criminal charges related to the Muslim Brotherhood.
IPI Director of Advocacy and Communications Steven M. Ellis said that the details of the Rabaa case raised serious concerns.
"Any time accusations such as these are brought against journalists, the defendants must be allowed to view all the evidence against them and to fully present any defence available in a proceeding that is free from any suggestion of bias," he said.
"We urge Egyptian authorities to work harder to ensure that international standards on due process, freedom of expression and media freedom are respected, even in cases that implicate those who express unpopular political opinions."
