London, 16-9-2017
Arab Media Freedom Monitor “Ikshef” fully condemns the death sentence upheld by the Egyptian Court of Cassation today against the Egyptian media professional Ahmed Ali Afifi in the case known as Espionage with Qatar.
Ikshef asserts that this final ruling is the first to be issued against an Egyptian media worker in a case classified as a publication issue, although the authorities presented it to the court as a spying case in the context of a political crisis between them and the State of Qatar and its Al-Jazeera television network. Therefore, this is a political ruling in the first place. It also comes in the context of a systematic campaign to suppress press freedom and terrorize independent journalists and media workers, which all organizations and bodies concerned with freedom of the press must address.
