Detained Al-Jazeera reporters vow to defend truth

Al-Jazeera network reporter Abdullah Al-Shami has said that he and his fellow detained colleagues are committed to uncovering and defending the truth, despite all the attempts to restrict their freedoms.

In a letter that Al-Shami managed to smuggle out of Egypt’s notorious Torah prison, he explained that he had no regrets and that he is proud of his work at the network: “I have made no offense against any human being, nor have I participated in falsification. My work attests to my integrity. My work is available on the Internet for those who want to see it.” Al-Shami also criticised those “journalists who choose to falsify the facts and cover up for violations against freedom and media.”

The Egyptian authorities arrested Al-Shami, one of Al-Jazeera Arabic’s correspondents in Egypt, in August following their violent operation to disperse the sit-in at Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square in Cairo. Al-Shami began a hunger strike earlier in December in protest of his detention without charge. “I have completed 160 days of captivity without any charges,” he said.

Last month, the Egyptian authorities also arrested Australian Peter Greste, an Al-Jazeera English correspondent, Canadian Mohammed Fahmy, the network’s Cairo bureau chief, and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed. This brings the total number of journalists imprisoned from the Al-Jazeera network to five, including Mohammed Badr, a cameraman for Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr, even though no official charges have been filed against any of them.

Furtermore, the Egyptian security forces stormed the Al-Jazeera Arabic office in Cairo and confiscated all broadcast equipment, as well as stopped the broadcast of Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr, even though the network obtained all the necessary permits to operate in Egypt. State media has also waged a vicious campaign of incitement against the Al-Jazeera network ever since the military coup that ousted Egypt’s first democratically elected President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013, claiming that the news organisation violates the rules of professional conduct.

International media and human rights organisations have condemned the arbitrary arrest of the journalists and demanded for Egypt’s military backed government to respect freedom of expression. Earlier this month, a number of globally renowned media personalities signed a letter demanding that the Egyptian authorities immediately release the journalists. The military regime is also accused of murdering seven Egyptian journalists from different media channels since the coup.

Al-Jazeera network, supported by nearly 180 media channels, condemns the harassment against the channel’s crew in Egypt and has demanded for the immediate and unconditional release of its journalists and the return of its confiscated broadcasting equipment and devices.