His Excellency Adly Mansour,
Interim President of Egypt,
Office of the President,
Al-Ittihadia Palace,
Cairo,
Arab Republic of Egypt.
Fax: +202 2 391 1441
9 April 2014
Your Excellency,
We are writing as part of the global online campaign ’30 Days for Freedom’ to call for the release of Peter Greste, Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, and all other journalists imprisoned in Egypt.
On December 29th 2013, Mr. Greste and Mr. Fahmy were apprehended from their central Cairo hotel suite, used by the Al Jazeera network as a newsroom since its offices were closed in July 2013. Mr. Mohamed was arrested at his home shortly afterwards. The three have been charged with "spreading false news" and "aiding a terrorist organisation" – namely the Muslim Brotherhood.
The trio’s three appearances before a Cairo court have elicited worldwide protests from media organisations, rights groups and activists. Evidence linking them to the charges has been woefully absent form any of the proceedings, leaving us to assume that their arrest is entirely politically motivated.
A fourth Al Jazeera journalist, Abdullah al-Shami, has been held in Egypt for more than six months and has been on a hunger strike since January 21, while reports emerged only this morning of a fifth journalist from the network having been arrested.
Your Excellency, that journalists should be arrested simply for doing their job is preposterous; that they should face unsubstantiated charges linking them to terrorist activities is frankly appalling. For Egypt to move beyond its dark past, where clampdowns on opposition media were frequent and the persecution of journalists commonplace, we urge you to send a strong message that this chapter of the country’s past is firmly closed and that the Egyptian authorities will respect the freedom of the press.
We therefore urge you to end harassment of the Al Jazeera network, to release Peter Greste, Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, and to free all other journalists imprisoned in connection to their work.
Sincerely,
#FreethePress
The 30 Days for Freedom campaign
Organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum, the ‘30 Days for Freedom’ campaign aims to highlight the plight of imprisoned journalists worldwide in the 30 days leading up to 3 May, World Press Freedom Day.
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