Three Al Jazeera staff remanded for 15 days

Three journalists working for the Qatari-based Al Jazeera television network in Cairo have been remanded for 15 days.

Correspondent Peter Greste, English-language bureau chief Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed were arrested late Sunday. A fourth man, freelance cameraman Mohamed Fawzy, also arrested Sunday, was released on Tuesday.

Australian Greste and the two other men will remain in jail pending investigations, a spokesperson at the Embassy of Australia in Cairo confirmed to Mada Masr Thursday. The spokesperson added that Greste has legal representation, and added that he “has no urgent welfare concerns.”

On Wednesday, Fahmy was reported to have been moved to a hospital for treatment of a broken arm. The injury was said to have taken place in the week before his arrest.

The prosecutor general’s office has accused the Al Jazeera journalists of forming a terrorist cell which fabricated and broadcast news footage that was intended to tarnish Egypt’s reputation abroad.

The four journalists were arrested in their hotel room at the Marriot Hotel, which served as their office. The prosecution statement accused the journalists of joining a “terrorist group.”

It listed the incriminating evidence confiscated from their hotel room as a number of cameras, microphones, editing and broadcast gear, computers and cash in both local and foreign currencies.

Freelance writer and former Al Jazeera journalist Adam Makary questioned the release of the statement while investigations are still continuing.

On Tuesday morning, Makary wrote on his Twitter account that Fahmy had been transferred to Tora prison, while Greste was still being questioned.

Meanwhile, Fahmy’s family seems to have taken over his Twitter account, asking other users to “provide some words on how ridiculous it is to claim that Mohamed is linked in any way to [the Muslim Brotherhood].”

The Arab Network for Human Rights Information condemned what it called “the silencing policy” used by Egypt against opposition media platforms, especially Al Jazeera channels, in a Monday statement.

“What journalists suffer from at the hands of security apparatuses and different political groups makes Egypt a dangerous environment for journalistic work,” added the statement, which described the situation as “a return to the police state that thrives on silencing opposing voices.”

Journalists working for media platforms affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood were targeted after the removal of former President Mohamed Morsi in early July.

Journalist Mahmoud Abdel Nabi, from the Rassd News Network, and Al Jazeera correspondents Mohamed Baher and Abdallah al-Shamy have been detained since the dispersal of the Rabea and Nahda sit-ins in mid-August.