Australian Al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste sentenced to seven years by Egyptian court
17 minutes ago June 23, 2014 7:51PM
.. it says 5 min ago now, without saying updated, so guessing it has been since posted .. must be a Murdoch manner .. weird ..
VIDEO Government shocked at Greste verdict 0:51
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop spoke of the governments shock and disbelief at the outcome of the trial of Peter Greste.
AUSTRALIAN Al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste and his two Al-Jazeera colleagues have been sentenced to seven years in jail by an Egyptian court after being found guilty of aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood.
The verdict — delivered by a judge to a packed courtroom in Cairo — has caused outrage around the world and left Greste’s Brisbane-based family devastated.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says the Australian Government will talk to the new Egyptian Government to see if intervention is possible.
“The Australian government is shocked at the verdict in the Peter Greste case,” Ms Bishop said.
“We are deeply dismayed by the fact that a sentence has been imposed and we are appalled by the severity of it.
“The Australian government cannot simply understand it based on the evidence that was presented.
“Peter Greste is a well respected Australian journalist. He was not there to support the Muslim Brotherhood.
“We are all shocked by this verdict and that includes the Prime Minister.
“We will initiate contact the the highest level.”
Ms Bishop said she had spoken to Greste’s family, and they were “devastated”.
“They are devastated as you’d expect, they were hoping there’d be a positive outcome ... that was the hope they held,” she said.
She added they were still considering their legal options including an appeal, but they were not sure how long an appeal might take.
“They are also mindful of the fact there is a long appeal process ahead of them, but it’s fair to say they are absolutely devastated by the verdict,” she said.
Ms Bishop emphasised the Australian government would provide ongoing support to Greste and his family.
“We will provide all consular assistance possible to Peter Greste and his family,” Ms Bishop said in Canberra.
When asked if the Australian government had done enough to help Greste, Ms Bishop said she made repeated calls and “cannot think of what more” they could have done.
“I cannot think of what more we could have done, we have made constant representations at the highest level of the Egyptian government,” she said.
Greste and two other reporters working for Qatar-based Al-Jazeera English were among the 20 defendants in a trial that has triggered international outrage amid fears of growing media restrictions in Egypt.
I am nervous as I write this. I am in my cold prison cell after my first official exercise session – four glorious hours in the grass yard behind our block and I don't want that right to be snatched away.
I've been locked in my cell 24 hours a day for the past 10 days, allowed out only for visits to the prosecutor for questioning, so the chance for a walk in the weak winter sunshine is precious.
So too are the books on history, Arabic and fiction that my neighbors have passed to me, and the pad and pen I now write with.
I want to cling to these tiny joys and avoid anything that might move the prison authorities to punitively withdraw them. I want to protect them almost as much as I want my freedom back.
That is why I have sought, until now, to fight my imprisonment quietly from within, to make the authorities understand that this is all a terrible mistake, that I've been caught in the middle of a political struggle that is not my own. But after 2 weeks in prison it is now clear that this is a dangerous decision. It validates an attack not just on me and my two colleagues but on freedom of speech across Egypt. All of a sudden, my books seem rather petty. I had been in Cairo only two weeks before interior ministry agents burst through the door of my hotel room, that of my colleague and producer Mohamed Fahmy, and into the home of al-Jazeera's second producer Baher Mohamed.
We had been doing exactly as any responsible, professional journalist would – recording and trying to make sense of the unfolding events with all the accuracy, fairness and balance that our imperfect trade demands.
Most of the time, it is not a difficult path to walk. But when the Egyptian government declared the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) to be "terrorist organization", it knocked the middle ground out of the discourse. When the other side, political or otherwise, is a "terrorist", there is no neutral way. As George W Bush loved to point out after 9/11, you are either with the government or with the terrorists. So, even talking to them becomes an act of treason, let alone broadcasting their news however benign.
The following day, the government fleshed out its definition of the term. Anyone caught handing out MB leaflets, or simply participating in protest marches against the government could be arrested and imprisoned for "spreading terrorist ideology".
The MB has lost much of the support and credibility once had when its political leader Mohamed Morsi became Egypt's first democratically elected president just over a year and a half ago. And many here hold it responsible for a growing wave of Islamist violence, but it remains the single largest and best organized social and political force in Egypt. What then for a journalist striving for "balance, fairness and accuracy?" How do you accurately and fairly report on Egypt's ongoing political struggle without talking to everyone involved?
I worried about his at the time with Mohamed Fahmy, but we decided that the choice was obvious – as obvious as the price we are now paying for making it.
The three of us have been accused of collaborating with a terrorist organization (MB), of hosting MB meetings in our hotel rooms, of using unlicensed equipments to deliberately broadcast false information to further their aims and defame and discredit the Egyptian state. The state has presented no evidence to support the allegations, and we have not been formally charged with any crime. But the prosecutor general has just extended our initial 15-day detention by another 15 days to give investigators more time to find something. He can do this indefinitely – one of my prison mates has been behind bars for 6 months without a single charge.
I am in Tora prison – a sprawling complex in the south of the city where the authorities routinely violate legally enshrined prisoners' rights, denying visits from lawyers, keeping cells locked for 20 hours a day (and 24 hours on public holidays) and so on. But even that is relatively benign compared to the conditions my colleagues are being held in.
Fahmy and Baher have been accused of being MB members, So they are being held in the far more draconian "Scorpion prison" built for convicted terrorists. Fahmy has been denied the hospital treatment he badly needs for a shoulder injury he sustained shortly before our arrest. Both men spend 24 hours a day in their mosquito-infested cells, sleeping on the floor with no books or writing materials to break the soul-destroying tedium. Remember we have not been formally charged, much less convicted of any crime. But this is not just about three al-Jazeera journalists. Our arrest and continued detention sends a clear and unequivocal message to all journalists covering Egypt, both foreign and local.
The state will not tolerate hearing from the MB or any other critical voices. The prisons are overflowing with anyone who opposes or challenges the government. Secular activists are sentenced to 3 years with hard labor for violating protest laws after declining an invitation to openly support the government; campaigners putting up "No" banners ahead of the constitutional referendum are summarily detained. Anyone, in short, who refuses to applaud the institution.
So our arrest is not a mistake, and as a journalist this IS my battle. I can no longer pretend it'll go away by keeping quiet and crossing my fingers. I have no particular fight with the Egyptian government, just as I have no interest in supporting the MB or any other group here. But as a journalist I am committed to defending a fundamental freedom of the press that no one in my profession can credibly work without. One that is deemed vital to the proper functioning of any open democracy, including Egypt's with its new constitution.
Of course we will continue to fight this from inside prison and through the judicial system here. But our freedom, and more importantly the freedom of the press here, will not come without loud sustained pressure from human rights and civil society groups, individuals and governments who understand that Egypt stability depends as much as on its ability to hold open honest conversations among its people and the world, as it does on its ability to crush violence.
We know it is already happening, and all of us are both moved and strengthened by the extraordinary support we have already had, but it needs to continue.
Second letter from Tora prison
Journalists are never supposed to become the story. Apart from the print reporter's byline or the broadcaster's sign-off, we are supposed to remain in the background as witnesses to or agents for the news; never as its subject.
That's why I find all the attention following our incarceration all very unsettling. This isn't to suggest I am ungrateful. All of us who were arrested in the interior ministry's sweep of al-Jazeera's staff on December 29 are hugely encouraged by and grateful for the overwhelming show of support from across the globe. From the letter signed by 46 of the region's most respected and influential foreign correspondent calling for our immediate release; to the petition from Australian colleagues; the letter-writing and online campaigns and family press conferences - all of it has been both humbling and empowering. We know we are not alone. But what is galling is that we are into our fourth week behind bars for what I consider to be some pretty mundane reporting.
I've produced work in the past that has involved lots of detailed investigation, considerable risk, and not a small amount of sweat, that I wished the authorities would have been even a little bit offended by. Yet too often it has slipped out with infuriatingly little response.
This assignment to Cairo had been relatively routine - an opportunity to get to know Egyptian politics a little better; but with only three weeks on the ground, hardly time to do anything other than tread water. So when a squad of plainclothes agents forced their way into my room, I was first genuinely confused and later even a little annoyed that it wasn't for some more significant slight.
This is not a trivial point. The fact that we were arrested for what seems to be a set of relatively uncontroversial stories tells us a lot about what counts as "normal" and what is dangerous in post revolutionary Egypt.
Of course the allegations we are facing suggest anything but normal journalistic endeavours. The state has accused three of us - myself, and producers Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed - of collaborating with the Muslim Brotherhood to use unlicensed equipment to broadcast information we knew to be false to defame and destabilize Egypt. Fahmy and Baher are further accused of being MB members. It's a rap sheet that would be comically absurd if it wasn't so deadly serious.
I'm keen to see what "evidence" the investigators have concocted to prove the allegations. But to date we have not been formally charged with any crime. We are merely in detention to give them time to assemble their case so the prosecutor can decide if it is strong enough to take to court. Under Egypt's judicial system, we won't get to see the file until charges are formally laid.
So, all we have is what we did - a routine body of reporting on the political drama unfolding around us, and what it might mean for Egypt.
The fact that this has put us behind bars is especially alarming given the historical moment Egypt now finds itself in.
The current interim government emerged after widespread street protests and pressure from the military pushed Egypt's first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi from power. In the eyes of Morsi's Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, it was a military coup; to the government's supporters it was a popular overthrow, with a little help from the military, of an administration that had broken its promises on moderation; created widespread discontent; cracked down on dissent, and was dragging Egypt towards a closed-minded theocracy.
To defend the revolution Egyptians have just passed a fiercely liberal constitution that, amongst other things, explicitly … freedom of the speech. Article 11 even expressly protects journalists from imprisonment for crimes committed through publishing or broadcast.
But what constitutes a breach of the law in this case seems to be relative where anything too far beyond the bounds of normally accepted limits becomes a threat. It isn't that we pushed those limits – after more than 20 years as a foreign correspondent, I know what is safe ground. And we didn't stray anywhere near that edge.
But the state here seems to see itself in an existential struggle that pits the forces of good, open, free society against the islamist "terrorists" still struggling to seize control.
In that environment, "normal" has shifted so far from the more widely accepted "middle" that our work suddenly appeared to be threatening.
We were not alone in our reporting, but our arrest has served as a chilling warning to others of where the middle is here.
In this "new normal", secular activists - including some of my prison neighbors - have been imprisoned at least three times - first for opposing the now fallen autocrat Hosni Mubarak; then for protesting at the excesses of the short-lived Muslim Brotherhood administration and now for what they say is draconian overreach by the current government. Campaigners putting up "no" posters for the recent constitutional referendum are also in prison, as is anyone caught taking part in Muslim Brotherhood organized protest (the Brotherhood is now deemed to be a "terrorist organization"). In this "new normal", an independant agency reckons some 21,000 had been arrested in the five months since Morsi's was ousted on June 30, while 2,665 people had been killed and almost 16,000 injured. And of course among the detained are journalists including ourselves, accused of supporting terrorism and undermining the state.
Let me be clear I have no desire to weaken Egypt nor in any way see it struggle. Nor do I have any interest in supporting any group, the Muslim Brotherhood or otherwise. But then our arrest doesn't seem to be about our work at all. It seems to be about staking out what the government here considers to be normal and acceptable. Anyone who applauds the state is seen as safe and deserving of liberty. Anything else is a threat that needs to be crushed.
I am devastated and outraged by Monday's verdict. Throughout this trial, the prosecutor has consistently failed to present a single piece of concrete evidence to support the outrageous allegations against us.
At the same time our lawyers have highlighted countless procedural errors, irregularities and abuses of due process that should have had the entire case thrown out of court many times over.
That is why I intend to do everything I can and consider all possible measures to overturn the conviction. The verdict confirms that our trial was never simply about the charges against us. It has been an attempt to use the court to intimidate and silence critical voices in the media.
That is why I know that our freedom, and more importantly the freedom of Egypt's press will never come without noisy, sustained pressure from individuals , human rights groups, governments and anyone who understand the fundamental importance of a free press to Egypt's fledgling democracy.
We are all grateful for the extraordinary and unprecedented public support that countless people have offered us throughout this ordeal. It has kept us strong and continues to do so. We must all remain committed to fight this gross injustice for as long as necessary. ---
Al Jazeera correspondent Peter Greste has issued his first statement since being handed a seven-year prison sentence by an Egyptian court decrying the ruling.
The award-winning foreign correspondent said he was "devastated and outraged" by Monday's verdict and that Egypt's state prosecutor had "consistently failed to present a single piece of concrete evidence" against him.
Greste said his lawyers "highlighted countless procedural errors, irregularities and abuses of due process that should have had the entire case thrown out of court many times over".
"The verdict confirms that our trial was never simply about the charges against us. It has been an attempt to use the court to intimidate and silence critical voices in the media," he said.
Baher Mohamed was sentenced to an additional three years for possession of a spent bullet casing he had found on the ground during a protest.
Several other Al Jazeera journalists were tried in absentia, including Sue Turton and Dominic Kane, who were sentenced to 10 years.
Al Jazeera strongly rejects the charges against all of its journalists and calls for their immediate release.
In a statement following the trial, Al Jazeera English's managing director Al Anstey said the judge's decision "defies logic, sense, and any semblance of justice". He promised to continue the call for the journalists' release.
The verdict has provoked an international outcry and raised fears of growing media restrictions in Egypt.
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, denounced the verdict as a "a chilling and draconian sentence".
A variety of factors have played into the army’s collapse including corruption, incompetence, a lack of clear ideological guidance, and an effective propaganda campaign by ISIL [Getty Images]
As the Iraq crisis worsens, the legacy of the recent past looms large. Years of occupation and political oppression, combined with a corrupt elite, and foreign designs, planted the seeds of chaos that being reaped in Iraq today, according to Iraqi analyst Zaid al-Ali.
Al-Ali says that Iraq can be brought back from the brink only by forming a new government from outside of the present political class and by radically overhauling the security apparatuses.
Al Jazeera spoke to al-Ali, who is a lawyer focusing on comparative constitutional law and is author .. http://www.zaidalali.com/ .. of The Struggle for Iraq's Future, published in February 2014 by Yale University Press.
Al Jazeera: How much of what you we see unfolding today is all the end product, the endgame, if you like, of a decade of US occupation of Iraq?
Zaid al-Ali: One can trace the origins of this problem even further back, possibly to the Iraq-Iran war, but certainly to the 1991 war and the manner in which the southern intifada was repressed in southern Iraq following the 1991 war. That event was deeply ingrained in the Iraqi memory and its impact is still felt today. Another cause of the current crisis is the manner in which western and Arab states, as well as Iran, corrupted the Iraqi opposition in exile in the 1990s, and even before that. Exiles were provided with significant financial assistance with close to no financial oversight, and in return were expected to adopt pro-western or pro-Iranian policies. The former exiles eventually returned to Iraq in 2003 and brought with them all the corrupt practises that they had learned in exile, merely to develop them further once they were in power in Iraq.
Finally, the occupation and the decisions that were taken by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) are clearly to blame as well. The decision to dissolve all of Iraq's security services in 2003, the de-Baathification process, and the role that the US and the UK played in encouraging corruption and human rights abuses are very significant in that regard, given that they set the stage for what is happening in Iraq at the moment.
AJ: What are the political forces/militias representing the Iraqi Sunnis today? And are they united over a clear vision for Iraq?
ZA: I'm not sure Iraqi Sunnis have any real representatives, in the same way that most Iraqis are unrepresented. Just because you vote for someone does not mean that that person represents your interests. Thus, although Shia Islamist parties are generally in control of the levers of government, the poorest areas of the country are in the South, including in areas where there is no one to be found other than "Shia Arabs" - including in the Dhi Qar and Maysan provinces.
Iraqis vote in elections in the hope of choosing the least bad of terrible options. Everyone understands that our main electoral candidates are corrupt and incompetent, but Iraqis participate anyway for a combination of reasons. The same applies to Iraq's Sunni Arabs, who are incredibly ineffective. These include Parliament Speaker Osama Nujaifi's Mutahidoun bloc, Salih al-Mutlaq's Arabiya bloc, and Iyad Allawi's Wataniya bloc, which have all achieved, essentially, nothing for their constituents since 2010.
These three blocs certainly share the goal of reducing the rate of random arrests and abuse that their constituents are subjected to in detention, but they focus all their strategic energies on removing Maliki from the prime minister's office.
There is so much that they could have done instead, particularly from 2010 through 2012, when they were still the largest bloc in parliament, but the few reforms they managed to promote were paltry compared with the needs of ordinary Iraqis.
--- "By using the term "sunni rebellion", the suggestion is made that "sunnis" are rebelling, whereas what is happening at the moment is limited to the actions of a few thousand militants." ---
AJ: How would you describe what is going on in Iraq today? Is this a prelude to the de facto dismemberment of Iraq? Is this a Sunni rebellion or an all out sectarian war?
ZA: I would describe this as a consequence of the continued dismemberment of the Iraqi state. After the dissolution of the military, and the reconstitution of a new military built around a rotten political system, we are left with a state that is incapable of protecting itself against a few thousand militants.
Tikrit is a small town of around 100,000 people. It essentially consists of a highway and a few roads here and there. It would have been very easy for the central government forces to defend it against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The Iraqi government and the military had 24 hours' notice that ISIL was on its way, and Tikrit is just a two-hour drive from Baghdad.
And yet, Tikrit fell with zero resistance. Hundreds of soldiers were captured immediately and were executed within the next few days and the government did nothing to intervene. People on the ground called contacts in the ministries of interior and defense to ask them to intervene to stop the massacre, but there was no reaction from Baghdad.
That is not the result of dismemberment, nor is evidence of a sectarian war. It is the combined effect of a relatively small group of extremely intolerant militants and the inaction and incapacity of a central government.
AJ: When we talk about a Sunni rebellion, can we put events in context for the reader? When did it start, who are the main forces behind it and what is on the list of demands for Iraq' Sunnis today?
ZA: Once again, I don't know if we can characterise what is happening now as a 'Sunni rebellion'. Although ISIL is sometimes described as being a Sunni extremist group, its ideology is so extreme that it has almost nothing to do with the rest of mainstream Islam. By using the term 'Sunni rebellion', the suggestion is made that Sunnis are rebelling, whereas what is happening at the moment is limited to the actions of a few thousand militants.
Having said that, Iraqi Sunnis are generally very upset at their situation. They have now suffered years of abuse at the hands of security forces. Just about every family has horror stories about relatives who were detained by security forces without charge, who were arrested and then sometimes never released.
That is all they have been talking about for the past few years, and sadly their situation has not stopped deteriorating. Ideally, the government should, as a matter of priority, reform the security sector and the criminal justice system to curb this type of practise. Realistically, there is very little chance of that happening.
AJ: How would you explain the sudden collapse of the army in areas such as Mosul and Tikrit?
ZA: The jury is still out on how the chain of command collapsed so quickly and we will probably know more in coming weeks, but it seems certain that a variety of factors played into the army's collapse. These include corruption, incompetence, a lack of clear ideological guidance for the rank and file, and an effective propaganda campaign by ISIL.
Like all state institutions in Iraq, the army has suffered from incredible levels of corruption. Senior positions in the army are bought and sold, many soldiers are paid without ever showing up for duty, and faulty equipment is procured for extortionate amounts of money.
In addition, Iraqi soldiers almost never undertake any manoeuvres, and instead spend all their time waiting to be attacked at checkpoints. At the same time, the military's rank and file can clearly see their commanders and political leaders showering themselves with wealth and comfort. Morale in the security forces was very low, which is a significant problem considering how ideologically driven groups like ISIL are.
Many soldiers have reported how their commanders ordered them to withdraw as ISIL advanced, and there is still significant confusion as to why that order was given. In any event, as soon as ISIL started gaining territory, many soldiers decided not to hold their ground and melted away into the general population.
AJ: In what way does the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant represent Iraq's Sunnis and their aspirations for a just and inclusive political process?
ZA: ISIL certainly has no ambition to be part of a just and inclusive political process. ISIL is very clear that its aim is to establish a violent form of Islamic caliphate that has no space for any form of dissent, whether religious or otherwise.
--- "What is truly needed now is for a government from without the political class, and for courageous reforms that will allow for the country to move back from the precipice. A new government derived from Iraq's current crop of corrupt and incompetent politicians will not be able to achieve that aim." ---
AJ: To what extent does the former regime have a presence here, and is it strong enough to lead any Sunni opposition against the current political process?
ZA: There is still no evidence that the former regime is playing a significant role in ISIL's military advance. Many analysts have made assumptions about possible Baathist involvement for a combination of reasons: Some would like to think that ISIL is not capable of this level of organisation and would have needed significant assistance from Baathists to gain so much territory so quickly. Others would prefer for Baathists to be in control because, as bad as a Baathist revolt would be, it would still be preferable to ISIL.
Finally many pro-government analysts have claimed that Baathists are involved in order to further sully ISIL (as if that was necessary). However, on the ground, there is still very little, if any evidence to support these assumptions.
AJ: What do you make of this regional power play, and would you say that what is going on in Iraq is a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia?
ZA: It's unclear that Saudi Arabia has much to do with these developments. What little detailed analysis that has been done on ISIL's finances indicates that it is financed almost exclusively through their racketeering operations, including kidnappings, ransom, and protection money that it extorts from local populations in Syria and mainly in Iraq.
The Saudi government has financed and supported similar organisations in the past, but there is still not much evidence - if any - that it supports ISIL. Many Saudi citizens appear to have joined ISIL's ranks, but once again, most eyewitnesses agree that on the ground in places like Tikrit, that ISIL's local forces are mainly Iraqi.
In terms of Iranian involvement, there is an agreement that Qasem Suleimani was on the ground in Baghdad immediately after the fall of Mosul in order to help prepare the city's defences.
I'm not sure if one can describe those circumstances as constituting a proxy war between the two countries. Certainly there are significant tensions, given Saudi's hostility towards the Shia denomination, and given the Iraqi government's regular accusations against Saudi.
But generally, there does not appear to be much evidence that Saudi Arabia is involved in Iraq.
AJ: Many Iraqi political actors, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, have been calling for a new government. In your view, do you think all that Iraq needs, at this crucial juncture, is a new government?
ZA: A new government might help relieve our situation, but will clearly not be enough. If the new government is formed from within the current ruling elite, then it might help establish a new dynamic but will not lead to the type of wholesale reform that the country really needs.
What is truly needed now is for a government from outside the political class, and for courageous reforms that will allow for the country to pull back from the brink. A new government derived from Iraq's current crop of corrupt and incompetent politicians will not be able to achieve that aim.
Iraq is now another model, with Somalia, for the 'smallest central government possible' conservative/libertarian ultra state rights, gun loving militia radicals of still solid U.S.A.
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