{"id":472,"date":"2014-07-01T10:45:54","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T10:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/?p=472"},"modified":"2018-09-10T07:50:31","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T07:50:31","slug":"captive-audience-applying-pressure-will-help-free-journalists-jailed-in-egypt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/?p=472","title":{"rendered":"Captive audience – applying pressure to free journalists jailed in Egypt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shocking as was the sight of Al Jazeera journalists \u00a0Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed locked in a cage while they were sentenced to long jail terms, broadcast pictures rendered the scene remote. \u00a0\u00a0Meeting with the three journalists\u2019 colleagues, and considering \u2013 arguing at times \u00a0– about what we in the UK can do to secure their release , provided a direct and visceral connection with those now languishing in Egypt\u2019s cells.<\/p>\n

The NUJ called the meeting a week after sentencing, to bring together campaigners for the journalists\u2019 release, and to raise awareness of the other eleven reporters currently behind bars in Egypt. Around fifty activists and journalists , including London-based Egyptians, foreign correspondents and two broadcast units, crowded into the union\u2019s top-floor meeting room on Monday night (30 June).<\/p>\n

\u201cA journalists\u2019 boycott of Egypt is not tenable \u2013 there are too many important stories happening there, but tourists avoiding the pyramids, Sham el Sheikh and the Nile would hit Egypt\u2019s rulers where is hurts,\u201d said Lindsey Hilsum, Chanel Four News international editor.\u00a0 There was not a shred of credible evidence<\/a> against the journalists, she said: \u201cWe must not forget about our jailed colleagues\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mick Hodgkin, the NUJ Father of Chapel at Al Jazeera in the UK talked about his colleagues\u2019 track record as reporters \u2013 Greste with the BBC, Fahmy at the New York Times and CNN and Mohamed a young journalist who \u201calways knew the right questions to ask but never gave away his own political views, such was his commitment to impartiality\u201d.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Corbyn MP, from the NUJ\u2019s Parliamentary group, said http:\/\/online-health-pharm.com\/products\/celebrex.htm<\/a> that he had been the first to tell foreign secretary William Hague about the sentences.\u00a0 \u201cAl Jazeera\u2019s coverage of Tahrir Square was fantastic.\u00a0 That is what President Sisi does not want\u201d, he said.\u00a0 \u201cSisi knows that you don\u2019t have to lock up every reporter up to start the process of journalists self-censoring\u201d.<\/p>\n

International Federation of Journalists president, Jim Boumelha set the imprisonments in the context of the polarisation of Egyptian society.\u00a0 \u201cThe most important thing in Egypt is to build bridges to encourage journalists to come together\u201d, he said.\u00a0 Boumelha explained that the jailing of journalists was a frequent occurrence under the Mubarak and the Morsi regimes.\u00a0 He also called on Al Jazeera to recognise unions in all its operations, not just those in the UK.<\/p>\n

Opened to the audience, proceedings became rather more voluble.\u00a0 One audience member accused another of being a wanted murderer and a terrorist.\u00a0 Another suggested that there would be spies in our midst who would report back to the Egyptian embassy.\u00a0 Jack Shenker, who was The Guardian\u2019s Cairo correspondent until recently said: \u201cInternational solidarity will really make a difference to our colleagues who are now in jail.\u00a0 Egypt is an outward-facing country, its leadership will take notice of international condemnation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Shenker was one of several speakers who expressed their belief that with sufficient campaigning the Sisi regime would relent and free Geste, Fahmy and Mohamed.\u00a0 Witnessing the raw pain their detention is causing their colleagues, not to mention the prisoners own privations, it is clear that the need for the pressure to be applied could not be greater.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shocking as was the sight of Al Jazeera journalists \u00a0Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed locked in a cage while they were sentenced to long jail terms, broadcast pictures rendered the scene remote. \u00a0\u00a0Meeting with the three journalists\u2019 colleagues, …<\/p>\n

Captive audience – applying pressure to free journalists jailed in Egypt<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":474,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-union-of-journalists","category-the-practice-of-journalism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=472"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":476,"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions\/476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-dawson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}