Al Jazeera renews its call on world leaders at UNGA to demand the release of its journalist Mahmoud Hussein

As world leaders gather in New York City to attend and participate in the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, we at Al Jazeera Media Network call on them to continue to put pressure on their Egyptian counterparts to respect the rights of journalists and media professionals and release the detained journalists in Egypt. We call on world leaders and diplomats to join Al Jazeera and other international institutions in calling for the release of all journalist detained in the country including our colleague Mahmoud Hussein, who has spent more than 640 days in prison with no charge or trial.

Since the beginning of 2018 at least 56 journalists have been killed, and many more remain behind bars for no reason other than carrying out their duty to inform, report facts, cover developments and hold those in power accountable. Our profession and our mission in this day and age is proving to be more and more difficult to execute. Oppressive governments are getting away with their brutal campaigns against journalists to silence them and deter them from uncovering the truth.

We at Al Jazeera stand united by our colleagues at Reuters and all media institutions around the world and demand the release of our detained colleagues Mahmoud Hussein, Wa Lone and  Kyaw Soe and all those who have been taken away from their families unjustly and put behind bars.

We will continue to campaign for all journalists and we will continue demanding press freedom as we believe that ‘journalism is not a crime’.