Cautious optimism on New Year’s Day for detained Al Jazeera journalists

CAIRO, Egypt — On a chilly New Year's Day in Cairo, Egypt’s highest court accepted the appeal of detained Al Jazeera English journalists, canceling their 7- and 10-year jail sentences and ordering a retrial.

But Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy, Australian Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohamed have already been in prison for over a year, and for their families, the decision is cold comfort.

“We were banking on and hoping for a retrial with a release today,” said Adel Fahmy, Mohamed’s brother.

“We need some time to process this. It is not as positive as we had hoped for,” said Lois Greste, mother of Peter Greste, looking shaken.

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Defense lawyers and family members say that they were hoping that the three would be released on bail with a travel ban. However, at the trial no one could agree on whether or not the Cassation Court had the authority to release them.

“I expected this,” said Marwa Omara, Fahmy’s fiancee who has said she will marry him in jail. “Everybody is telling us it’s not in his [the judge’s] hands to release them on bail.”

She remains very concerned about Fahmy’s deteriorating health: He suffers from Hepatitis C and has been unable to obtain proper treatment for a shoulder injury that has now caused permanent damage, since it was initially left untreated in prison.

The three were arrested in December 2013 at the Marriott Hotel in Cairo, which they were using as a makeshift office. In June, Fahmy and Greste were sentenced to 7 years in prison, on charges of membership in the now banned Muslim Brotherhood. Mohamed was given a 10-year sentence because he was found with a used bullet casing. The trial was widely denounced as a sham and evidence included footage of a galloping horse, a photograph of Greste’s parents and a song by the Belgian-Australian artist Gotye. The journalists argue that they were simply doing their jobs and reporting the news.

An international campaign with the hashtag FreeAJEStaff has since been mounted for their release.

Journalists were initially barred from today’s trial. Family members who attended the session said it lasted only about 20 minutes and lawyers presented their arguments in rapid two to three minute bursts.

The defense lawyers argued that they had not had proper access to the evidence in the case as the prosecution set the price to see it prohibitively high. The prosecution also posited a link between the news network and the Muslim Brotherhood that defense lawyers say is baseless.

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“They assume that because they worked for Al Jazeera that means they are members of the Muslim Brotherhood. That is illogical,” says Negad al-Borai, defense lawyer for Fahmy.

Despite disappointment that they were not released, Adel is “optimistic,” he says, “but we learned the hard way back in June that we have to be cautiously optimistic.” In June, many were shocked by the harshness of the sentences.

“He’s ok, He’s very anxious, no one slept last night,” Adel said of his brother.

Yet despite his optimism, Fahmy’s family continue to pursue all avenues and have applied for deportation under a new presidential decree that allows foreigners on trial or in prison in Egypt to be deported to their home countries and undergo legal proceedings there.

However, since Fahmy is a dual citizen, he would have to renounce his Egyptian citizenship in order for the decree to apply to him, says al-Borai. Egyptians with foreign passports are usually seen as Egyptian nationals in the eyes of the law.

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“We have serious concerns related to the conduct of the initial trial and we hope this new procedure will be done quickly and transparently,” said Canadian Ambassador Troy Lulashnyk.

Lawyers say that whether or not the three can be released on bail can be decided from the first retrial session that will likely take place within the month.

Adel hopes that thawing relations between Egypt and Qatar, where Al Jazeera is based, will improve his brother’s chances.

“I hope things keep on getting better between Egypt and Qatar for the sake of those innocent poor professional journalists who got stuck in this remote conflict between nations.”

Relations between the two countries grew hostile after the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 when Qatar backed the Brotherhood against the new Egyptian military regime. However Saudi Arabia has since brokered efforts to patch up the relationship.

“I’m hoping the reconciliation efforts continue between Egypt and Qatar,” Adel adds, “they [his brother, Greste and Mohamed] are the only ones really paying the price and are being punished on behalf of Qatar and Al Jazeera.”