Egyptian prosecutors perplex judge with evidence against journalists
| Cairo
As the evidence against the Al Jazeera English journalists accused of terrorism links piled up in front of the judge, with the defendants looking on from a cage, the courtroom seemed to morph into a theater of the bizarre.聽
On day two of the trial聽outside聽a Cairo prison, Judge聽Mohamed Nagy looked puzzled as he was presented with "evidence" to support accusations that聽the men had formed a Muslim Brotherhood cell that conspired to聽broadcast false information about the state of Egypt.
After Mr. Nagy repeatedly struggled to open the sealed boxes, suitcases聽and tripod bags, an "expert" was summoned to help. At聽times, officials took cigarette lighters to the tricky fastenings, or聽stabbed boxes open with their pens.
The judge appeared to lose count of the items聽being presented, all of聽them everyday items or broadcast equipment. A silver-backed Apple聽computer received particular scrutiny from one member of the聽prosecution. As he held it up to the light, two policemen sniggered.
Al Jazeera English's Cairo bureau chief, Mohamed Fahmy, was arrested in a聽raid on the network's temporary office in late December, along聽with Australian reporter Peter Greste and freelance producer Baher聽Mohamed. The three are among 20 defendants in a case that has聽prompted an international outcry over聽the prosecution of journalists who say they were just doing their jobs. The decision to push ahead with the case is seen as a political one, as Egypt lashes out against Qatar, its regional rival and the owners of the Al Jazeera network.
Although Egyptian聽media聽has largely treated the defendants' guilt as a certainty, today was the first time that the evidence against them聽was made public.
The Qatari-backed network is perceived as being sympathetic to the聽Muslim Brotherhood, which was formally designated a terrorist聽organization on聽Dec. 25. One witness, a state security officer, told the judge that the聽journalists' guilt stemmed from the fact of their employment with Al聽Jazeera.
"As soon as they cooperated with [Al Jazeera] and these [terrorist聽groups]... they were guilty of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood,"聽Ahmed Hussein, a police official taking part in the investigation,聽told the judge.
Although Al Jazeera's Arabic channel is frequently accused of bias and聽incitement 鈥撀燼nd their coverage was often sympathetic to the Brotherhood 鈥撀爐he detained journalists work for Al Jazeera English, a more reputable, editorially separate outlet. But over the course of his questioning, Mr. Hussein聽was聽forced to admit that he had been unaware of any difference between Al Jazeera English and its Egyptian counterpart, Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr. The latter is banned in Egypt.聽
In a hearing last month, the defendants were agitated, using recesses to shout messages to journalists聽covering the trial. This time, they were more subdued. Peter Greste, whose face has appeared on solidarity campaign posters聽across the world, was silent for most of the hearing. He is not a fluent Arabic speaker and appeared unable to understand developments unfolding聽around him. A previous request that he be provided a translator seemed聽to have been denied.
Uttering a rare聽shout from the courtroom cage, Mohamed Fahmy implored the judge to聽consider his reputation.
"I've been a journalist for 12 years," he shouted. "I covered the聽Syrian and Egyptian revolutions. No one ever said that I was聽dishonorable. It's impossible that I would ever betray my country."
Another defendant, Sohaib Said, cried out that he had been tortured in聽custody and said that he had been unable to see his family for聽more than 50 days.
Officials from different聽parts of Egypt's opaque power structure often offer differing聽assessments over the future of the defendants. While security officials tend to emphasize their alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood, many senior ministers admit in private that the case has been embarrassing for Egypt.
On Tuesday Egypt's trade and investment minister, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, told the BBC that he thought the arrests were聽a "mistake" but criticized the journalists for working without the correct paperwork. "Even journalists have to abide by the law of the land," he said.聽聽
The trial was adjourned to聽March 24.
