The Court of Cassation accepted the appeal of Australian Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed, who were convicted on charges including undermining Egyptian national security, belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and spreading false information.
“As frustrating as this process has been, there is some cause for optimism,” Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in an interview today on Sky television. “The appeal has been upheld. The conviction has been overturned so that puts Peter Greste back in the position of an accused person awaiting a retrial.”
Egypt’s Revolution
Rights organizations and activists condemned the convictions as evidence of a government crackdown on freedom, particularly targeting Islamists. It was also seen as part of the broader dispute between Egypt and Qatar, which supported Mursi following his election as Egypt’s first democratically elected civilian president.
Relations between the two nations have begun to thaw, with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi in December meeting with a Qatari envoy amid a push by Saudi Arabia to resolve the dispute. Qatar-based Al-Jazeera shut down its Egyptian affiliate, saying it would seek proper licensing first.
‘Prisoner Transfer’
Lawyers for the three men had argued the criminal court’s decision was riddled with inaccuracies and that the prosecution had failed to present any evidence to support the charges. El-Sisi recently issued a decree that would allow foreigners convicted of a crime to serve their sentences in their home countries, raising hopes Greste and Fahmy could be repatriated.
Bishop said because the upholding of Greste’s appeal gives him the status of an accused person awaiting trial, he’s ineligible for clemency or a presidential pardon.
“So what his lawyers are pursuing now is some kind of prisoner transfer agreement with Australia,” she said. “And of course the Australian government stands ready to assist in any way that we can.” Another option is deportation, she said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tarek El-Tablawy in Cairo at teltablawy@bloomberg.net; Deema Almashabi in Riyadh at dalmashabi@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Samuel Potter at spotter33@bloomberg.net Amy Teibel, Rosalind Mathieson
