EGYPT-JAZEERA/ADJOURNMENT Egypt court adjourns Al Jazeera journalists' retrial

Record ID: 150878

  • Title: EGYPT-JAZEERA/ADJOURNMENT Egypt court adjourns Al Jazeera journalists' retrial
  • Date: 11th June 2015
  • Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (JUNE 11, 2015) (REUTERS) COURTROOM VARIOUS OF LAWYER DELIVERING ARGUMENT QURANIC VERSE ON SIGN READING (Arabic): "INDEED, ALLAH COMMANDS YOU TO RENDER TRUSTS TO WHOM THEY ARE DUE AND WHEN YOU JUDGE BETWEEN PEOPLE TO JUDGE WITH JUSTICE." PRESIDING JUDGE HASSAN FARID SAT BETWEEN OTHER COURT OFFICIALS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PRESIDING JUDGE, HASSAN FARID, SAYING: "
  • Embargoed: 26th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6TKXV1KJUOFMVNHYY0GV6OEG0
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A Cairo court on Thursday (June 11) adjourned the retrial of Al Jazeera television journalists to June 25, for further closing statements from the defence team.
    Mohamed Fahmy, a naturalised Canadian who has given up his Egyptian citizenship, and Egyptian Baher Mohamed were released on bail in February after spending more than a year in custody. A third Al Jazeera journalist, Australian Peter Greste, was deported in February.
    The journalists were originally sentenced to between seven and 10 years in prison on charges including spreading lies to help a terrorist organisation, which they have denied.
    The charge refers to the Muslim Brotherhood, which was outlawed in Egypt after the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi during mass protests against his rule in 2013.
    In Cairo on Thursday the presiding judge Hassan Farid also ordered the detention of a fourth defendant, student Sohaib Mohamed Mohamed, who had been absent from the retrial despite being previously instructed to attend by the judge.
    "The court has decided to adjourn the trial until June 25 to continue hearing defense arguments and has ordered the continuation of protection measures. The court has also ordered the arrest and detainment of the fourth defendant Sohaib Mohamed Mohamed," Farid told the court.
    Outside the courtroom Fahmy and Mohamed expressed optimism.
    "Today with the great performance of the lawyer, the lawyer today tackled everything in the case. He proved that everything was void: the search permission, the arrest permission. I'm happy with his performance and I am also very happy with what the Court of Cassation said today about the bullet; because I think every single journalist when he goes covers some incident or conflict or anything, he wants to bring back a souvenir. So thank god that the Court of Cassation today . . . or the lawyer told me the Court of Cassation said forget about this bullet," Mohamed said, referring to his lawyer's comments in court on Thursday regarding a previous decision by Egypt's highest court taken in January.
    Mohamed was originally given an extra three years detention for possessing a bullet, which he claims was a souvenir he kept after covering stories in Libya.
    "The judge gets this point and I feel that he's very responsive and I think we will be exonerated and we're very hopeful," Fahmy added.
    Egypt's high court previously ordered the retrial in January.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register