The WorldPostEgyptabdel fattah el sissimohammed fahmy al jazeera

Egypt's President Sisi Pardons 100 Prisoners, Including Al Jazeera Journalists

The move comes a day before Sissi is slated to attend the annual U.N. summit of world leaders.
Reuters
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CAIRO, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pardoned 100 prisoners including three Al Jazeera television journalists on Wednesday, a day before he plans to head to the annual United Nations summit of world leaders.

Canadian Mohamed Fahmy, Egyptian Baher Mohamed and Australian Peter Greste were sentenced to three years in prison in a retrial last month for operating without a press license and broadcasting material harmful to Egypt. Greste had already been deported in February.

A spokesperson for the Canadian government said that Canada was pleased with the pardon and it would help arrange Fahmy's departure from Egypt.

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Al-Jazeera journalists, Canadian Mohamed Fahmy (C) and Egyptian Baher Mohamed (unseen), both accused of supporting the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood in their coverage for the Qatari-owned broadcaster, sit in the defendants' cage during their trial in the capital Cairo on August 29, 2015.
KHALED DESOUKI via Getty Images

The pardons were reported by security sources and Egypt’s state news agency, which said they included prisoners who violated a 2013 law banning protests without a permit, as well as some who were sick.

“This comes in the framework of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s initiative to release a number of youth which he launched... in December,” it said, quoting presidential sources.

Human rights groups have accused Egyptian authorities of widespread violations since the army toppled the country’s first democratically elected president, Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, after mass protests against his rule two years ago.

Egyptian security forces arrested dozens of activists last year for violating the 2013 protest ban.

Also among the released were 16 women, including Yara Sallam, the news agency said. Sallam was arrested last year along with other activists accused of violating the protest law.

The pardons were announced on the same day that France announced it had agreed to sell Egypt two French Mistral helicopter carriers, whose planned sale to Russia had been canceled.

Also on HuffPost:

9 Ridiculous Things Used As Evidence In The Trial Of Al Jazeera Journalists
A Gotye song(01 of09)
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The Gotye song "Somebody That I Used To Know" was presented to the court, according to Guardian reporter Patrick Kingsley, with no explanation given. An engineer, who helped prepare the evidence and signed a document saying it was incriminating, told the court he had not analyzed it and couldn't say whether it pointed to the journalists' guilt.

Peter Greste's holiday snaps(02 of09)
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According to the Australian, members of the court could barely stifle giggles when pictures of former BBC journalist Peter Greste's laptop was analyzed in court. Pictures of his parents on holiday in Latvia and Germany were shown, without any comment on why they formed evidence against Greste.

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A Panorama documentary about Somalia(03 of09)
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The court was shown a report on Somalia that Greste had done for the BBC’s "Panorama" program -- for which he had won a Peabody Award. "It shows there is not a single shred of evidence against us," Greste said at the time. "But I'm also very proud -- I won a Peabody for that. I wish they had shown more of that program because it shows the sort of journalism we do rather than the sort of journalism we are alleged to have done."

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A Kenyan news conference(04 of09)
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The short video was shown to the court from Greste's laptop on April 11. His lawyer told the judge: "Your Honor, it has taken several sessions of this court to reach a point where we are watching videos from Kenya and Somalia which have nothing to do with Egypt."

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A doctored picture of Mohamad Fahmy(05 of09)
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Al Jazeera quoted reporters in the room as saying the picture of Fahmy standing behind former Egyptian military chief Mohamed Hussein Tantawi had been "clearly doctored." "But, doctored or not doctored," his brother Adel Fahmy told the Globe and Mail, "there's nothing wrong with it because it was taken prior to the Muslim Brotherhood regime."

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Footage of sheep(06 of09)
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Footage of sheep farming was submitted as part of the video evidence, according to the Globe and Mail. No further comment was made. (credit:Getty Images)
A clip from Sky News Arabic(07 of09)
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None of the journalists have ever worked there and had nothing to do with the clip that was shown, according to the Australian.
A documentary about horses in Egypt(08 of09)
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None of the journalists ever worked on the documentary in question. (credit:AP)
A documentary about football in Egypt(09 of09)
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Greste did work on this documentary for Al Jazeera, but he said it showed exactly the opposite of what the prosecution were trying to prove. "We're accused of showing that the country is at war. This story shows the opposite. It's a story that shows we have no agenda," he shouted at the judge when the clip was shown on May 22.

 (credit:Getty Images)

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