Montreal, June 23, 2014 — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME)—a grassroots citizens’ group— believes the Canadian government’s indifference directly contributed to today’s conviction and sentencing of Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy. An Egyptian court convicted Fahmy and two other Aljazeera journalists on charges of aiding terrorism and falsifying news. Fahmy and Australian journalist Peter Greste were sentenced to seven years in prison, and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed to ten years. Amnesty International observers of the trial commented that the prosecution failed to produce a single shred of solid evidence for either charge. As noted by Amnesty International, Fahmy and the other Al Jazeera crew members were simply doing their jobs as a news crew.

Montreal, February 20, 2014  — As news that Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and two other Al Jazeera journalists will remain in jail until March 5, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) has learned that Canadian officials have underserved both Fahmy and his family.  The three journalists are accused of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood – now virtually outlawed in Egypt – and of broadcasting “misleading” news about events in Egypt.  The three journalists pleaded not guilty, but the Egyptian court has refused them bail. 

Montreal, February 3, 2014  — Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) calls on Egypt to release Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy and the other Al Jazeera journalists currently languishing in jail there.  CJPME also calls on Canadian political leaders to get involved to prompt Egypt to drop all trumped up charges that have been filed against Fahmy and other Al Jazeera journalists. Egypt’s Prosecutor General announced on January 29 that it would try 20 Al Jazeera journalists on charges of incitement, distorting Egypt’s image broad and fabricating news to aid the Muslim Brotherhood. “Egyptian authorities must release Mohamed Fahmy, and Canadian political leaders must address this terrible travesty of justice,” says CJPME President Thomas Woodley.

Montreal, January 27, 2014 — CJPME laments that three years after the massive protests that eventually toppled authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak began in Tahrir Square, democracy is still eluding Egyptians. According to a January 23 Amnesty International (AI) report, at least 1400 people had been killed in political violence since the military ousted elected president Mohammed Morsi July 3. AI says that Egypt has witnessed “state violence on an unprecedented scale over the last seven months.” In addition, on Saturday, January 25, 49 anti-government protesters were killed, and another 1079 were arrested, according to media reports.

Canadian-Egyptian journalist Mohamed Fahmy has been detained in the notorious Scorpion prison since December 30, 2013. Although his detention has been condemned by Amnesty International, Fahmy may now be facing charges. Please pressure the Egyptian authorities to immediately release Mohamed Fahmy and the other Al Jazeera journalists that are also detained with him.