Al Jazeera retrial adjourned to August 29

The Al Jazeera retrial for journalists Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy was adjourned on Sunday to August 29. The journalists were first released pending trial on February 12, 2015.

Following the adjournment of the trial, Fahmy tweeted, “Verdict postponed until August 29. The audacity and continued disrespect to our rights is unprecedented.”

Mohamed, Fahmy and Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste were first arrested and detained on December 29, 2013 on suspicion of belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood and spreading false news harmful to national security. The journalists were detained for over a year in what became known as the “Marriott Cell case.”

The retrial was attended by the Netherlands ambassador, a representative from the British embassy and a number of international and national journalists. 

Following a long drawn-out trial, Fahmy and Greste were sentenced to seven years in prison, while Mohamed received 10 years. 11 other Al Jazeera staffers were sentenced in absentia to ten years in prison. Five students and an Islamic charity worker were also implicated. Two students were acquitted and three students received seven years in jail, as did the Islamic charity worker.  

Peter Greste, an Australian journalist and correspondent for Al Jazeera, was the first  to be released from prison. He was deported after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a decree allowing him to deport foreigners detained pending investigation or convicted and imprisoned in Egypt.

After the decree, Greste was released and deported, returning to Australia where he remains today.

Following Greste’s release, the half-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy renounced his Egyptian citizenship, in the hope he would follow in Greste’s steps and be deported. Baher Mohamed is fully Egyptian and was unable to pursue these steps.  

The Court of Cassation granted the journalists a retrial in January. Mohamed and Fahmy were released on bail during the first session of their retrial on February 12, and the case was adjourned. The judge set Fahmy’s bail at LE250,000.