Al Jazeera condemns Egypt’s sentencing of its journalist Abdullah Elshamy in absentia

Al Jazeera Media Network condemns the sentencing of journalist Abdullah Elshamy by an Egyptian court to fifteen years in prison in absentia over a 2013 sit-in protest in Cairo that ended in the killing of hundreds of protesters.

Al Jazeera views this as a continuation of the Egyptian authorities’ efforts to silence Al Jazeera and its journalists and to deter and intimidate the Network from covering developments in Egypt. The Network also condemns the listing of its journalists and media professionals from other organisations on a terror list issued by Egyptian authorities on June 23, 2018.

Abdullah Elshami was jailed in Egypt without charge for 11 months. Protesting his unjust imprisonment Abdullah started a hunger strike which lasted for five months before being released in June 2014.

Al Jazeera’s journalists and correspondents have been a continuous target of the Egyptian authorities since 2013, and as a result, many have been sentenced to imprisonment and the death penalty in absentia. Al Jazeera’s journalist Mahmoud Hussein remains imprisoned in Egypt for more than 625 days without a trial in a direct violation of the Egyptian and International laws.