Three Journalists Given Death Penalty in Egypt

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Summary: The Egyptian government has just sentenced three journalists to death.

Three journalists have just received the death penalty in Egypt. Two were employees of Al-Jazeera and one was a television producer. They worked for Rasd, a TV station with alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood political party. Under the current Egyptian president’s reign, human rights advocates argue that freedom of the press has been stifled as he battles Islamic terrorists in the region.

  

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• Related: “Al-Jazeera News Channel Sues Egyptian Government over Journalist Mistreatment”

According to Deadline Hollywood, “The Al-Jazeera employees, identified as Alaa Omar Mohammed and news editor Ibrahim Mohammed Hilal, and Asmaa al-Khateib of Rasd, were sentenced to death along with three others who were accused of passing national security documents to Qatar as well as Al-Jazeera, which is based in Doha and partially funded by the Qatar’s ruling House of Thani.”

The case against the three journalists was part of growing litigation against the former Egyptian president, Mohammed Morsi. Morsi was overthrown in 2013 by a military coup and was sentenced to death for an unrelated case. The current Egyptian government is now going after anyone that it believes fed information to its enemies.

Amnesty International said that the charges against the journalists were “ludicrous.” Al-Jazeera said that the sentences were “politicized,” “illogical,” and “legally baseless.”

The three other defendants, Ahmed Afify, Mohammed Keilany and Ahmed Ismail, also received the death penalty.

This decision came as a surprise to some considering that in 2015, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi pardoned two other Al-Jazeera journalists, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohammed, who were represented by human rights lawyer, Amal Clooney. They and almost 100 others were issued pardons on the eve of a Muslim holiday.

• Related: “Three Journalists for Al-Jazeera English Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison”

What do you think of this case? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: Deadline Hollywood

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