London -7 May 2016
Arab Media Freedom Monitor “Ikshef” expresses shock and condemnation of the decision issued by an Egyptian criminal court Saturday against four journalists of Al-Jazeera TV network, among them is the former head of news department in the TV station. The decision included referral of some journalists and some other citizens’ case to the Mufti of Egypt to know his legal opinion in sentencing them to death in what is known as the case of “collaborating with Qatar”.
Ikshef stresses that this decision is a political par excellence as it is assumed in collaboration cases to be between two parties, and Egyptian authorities have not charged any Qatari figure representing the other party. These verdicts are also incompatible with the nature of journalistic work, which sometimes includes access to documents and data from official and unofficial bodies.
Ikshef calls on all concerned bodies with press freedom in the world to act to stop this powerful attack against freedom of press in Egypt in which the above mentioed decision comes into context. It was preceded by many repressive measures which was topped by storming the headquarters of the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicated on May 1st, 2016.
