By Alexandra Zakreski
With a lengthy appeal ahead, Mohammed Fahmy’s family is turning to crowdfunding to help pay for mounting legal costs.
The jailed Canadian-Egyptian Al Jazeera English journalist is represented by Amal Alamuddin and Negad el-Borai, internationally renowned lawyers and experts on the Egyptian judicial system. Fahmy’s family is hoping to raise $350,000 CAD and have stated that they “intend to be transparent about what Fahmy’s lawyers are doing to expedite an appeal hearing toward a retrial until freedom prevails.”
Toronto, ON—Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) has called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi while at the United Nations General Assembly this week, to push for the release of Canadian-Egyptian journalist Mohamed Fahmy and his colleagues.
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P., Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Dear Prime Minister Harper,
I am writing on behalf of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), a non-profit, non-governmental organization that works to promote and protect press freedom and freedom of expression around the world.
UPDATE: On August 31, the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity announced that the deadline for nongovernmental organizations to register under the 2002 NGO law has been postponed until November 10, 2014.
His Excellency Wael Ahmed Kamal Aboul-Magd
Ambassador of Arab Republic of Egypt in Ottawa
Embassy of Egypt in Ottawa
454 Laurier Ave. East
Ottawa, ON
K1N 6R3
Dear Ambassador,
By Alexandra Zakreski
CJFE has learned from the family of Mohamed Fahmy that the imprisoned Egyptian-Canadian journalist will appeal the illegitimate guilty verdict against him.
Al Jazeera English journalist Mohamed Fahmy released the following statement to Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) through his family. Facing the difficult decision of whether to appeal his guilty verdict to the same corrupt judiciary that unjustly convicted him in the first place, Fahmy addresses the plight that he and his colleagues are facing.
Toronto, ON—On the 200th day in Egyptian prison for three Al Jazeera English journalists, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) sent a petition signed by 10,799 people to Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi demanding he immediately and unconditionally release the three unjustly detained individuals.
To mark his 200th day in prison, Mohamed Fahmy released the following statement through his family