Dear friends, Right now, journalism is on trial in Egypt. For months, four Al Jazeera TV reporters have been held in one of Cairo’s notorious jails accused of nothing more than reporting the news. It’s a desperate situation -- none of them know when they’ll be able to see their families again. The journalists face charges of “spreading false news”, a spurious charge that could see them face seven years in prison. Across the world politicians and the media have called on Egypt to end this madness but now we urgently need to create a deafening roar to demand Egypt free these journalists from jail. In days the journalists Mohamed Fahmy, Peter Greste, and Baher Mohamed and Abdullah Al Shami will begin their battle for freedom in court. Let’s urge the Egyptian authorities to set them and the 16 other journalists free -- when we hit 250,000 signers, we will deliver this campaign to Egyptian Embassies across the world demanding those who report the news are not held behind bars. Sign now: avaaz.org/en/free_al_jazeera_staff_mena/?tCMyehb Peter, Mohamed and Baher were working from a hotel room in Cairo when the police arrested them. The previous Al Jazeera office had been raided and ransacked weeks earlier. The journalists were accused of supporting the opposition in Egypt -- which the interim-government calls “terrorists” -- for portraying Egypt in a state of ‘‘civil war’’ and ‘‘airing false news’’ which most people would describe as simply reporting the news. The international pressure has been growing across the world with marches, rallies and condemnation of the gagging of journalists by prominent politicians. But now we need to keep the pressure up and show that people of the world are urging the new Egyptian authorities not to fall back to the dark days of the Mubarak era of dictatorship. If enough of us rally together and join the call for their freedom, we can end this nightmare. Sign the petition and share it with all your friends and family to spread the word: avaaz.org/en/free_al_jazeera_staff_mena/?tCMyehb Avaaz members have campaigned tirelessly for media freedom, ensuring Rupert Murdoch didn’t lock in a monopoly in the UK. Without journalists reporting what they see, the truth will never burn brightly. Lets light a candle and stand with the brave Al Jazeera journalists and keep free speech in Egypt alive. With hope and determination, Sam, Emily, Bert, Nick, Mais, Emma and the whole Avaaz team MORE INFORMATION Egypt crisis: Al-Jazeera journalists arrested in Cairo (BBC) bbc/news/world-middle-east-25546389 (bbc/news/world-middle-east-25546389 title=Link: bbc/news/world-middle-east-25546389) Egyptian TV airs arrest of Al Jazeera reporters (Washington Post) washingtonpost/world/middle_east/egyptian-tv-airs-arrest-of-al-jazeera-reporters/2014... 20 Al Jazeera Journalists Face Charges in Egypt (New York Times) nytimes/2014/01/30/world/middleeast/egypt.html?_r=0 Detention Of Al-Jazeera Journalists Strains Free Speech In Egypt (NPR) npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/01/29/268481172/detention-of-al-jazeera-journalists-strains... Al Jazeeras solidarity for journalists (SBS) sbs.au/news/article/2014/02/28/jazeeras-solidarity-journalists Avaaz.org is a 34-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the worlds people shape global decision-making. (Avaaz means voice or song in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 18 countries on 6 continents and operates in 17 languages. Learn about some of Avaazs biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 18:03:54 +0000
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