Silent protest staged by journalists over imprisoned al-Jazeera trio

Hundreds of journalists staged silent protest in London after three al-Jazeera journalists in Egypt was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

17:35 24 June 2014

Hundreds of journalists took to the streets in silent protest after three al-Jazeera journalists – Australia’s Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy, and Baher Mohamed were found guilty of spreading false news and were sentenced to 7 years in prison in Cairo. The trio had previously denied all charges and are expected to appeal. 

 

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop said that she would work with the Egyptian government to help free Mr Greste as soon as possible.  

 

She added: "We support Egypt's transition to democracy, but that also includes freedom of speech and press."

 

Meanwhile the father of Mr Greste said that their family was “devastated” by the verdict. Talking to reporters in Brisbane, he said: "This is a very dark time, not only for our family but for journalism generally," Juris Greste said, describing the ruling as a "slap in the face" to "all fair-minded people around the world". 

 

"Journalism is not a crime, or you should all be behind bars,'' he added. 

Meanwhile, BBC staff, together with other colleagues from other news organisations, staged the one-minute silent protest exactly 24 hours after the sentencing in Cairo on Monday.