ABC | Committee to Protect Journalists
Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were again denied bail in an Egyptian court, where the three Al-Jazeera journalists face charges of spreading falsehoods and maintaining ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, ABC reported Monday.
Greste was allowed to approach the judge and argue for his freedom. Greste had only been in Egypt for two weeks when he was arrested Dec. 29 along with Fahmy and Mohamed. But the court denied bail for all three.
In February, Al Jazeera held a social media campaign calling for a “Global Day of Action,” in support of the three defendants. Journalists from around the world participated.
On Friday, Mayada Ashraf, a reporter for the daily newspaper Al-Dustour, was shot and killed in Cairo while covering demonstrations by the Muslim Brotherhood. Al-Dustour has been critical of the Brotherhood and Ashraf referred to it as a terrorist group in her last report, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
However, who killed her and why remains unconfirmed. The Committee to Protect Journalists has called for a government probe into her death:
“We call on the Egyptian government to open an independent and impartial investigation into Mayada Ashraf’s killing,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “A journalist’s death should not be used to settle political scores–the focus should be on journalists’ right to safely cover events in Egypt.”
