Three Al Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt are to face a retrial.
The decision, which was made by an appeals court after a hearing lasting a few minutes, has given families of the men fresh hope that they might be freed.
However, there were mixed emotions among relatives at Egypt's Court of Cassation after the trio were denied bail.
Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy, Australian Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohamed have been held since December 2013 in a case that has provoked an international outcry and widespread calls for their freedom.
The arrests followed the ousting of Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and their original trial was dismissed as a sham by rights groups.
Fahmy and Greste each received a seven-year prison sentence, while Mohamed got 10 years.
Egyptian authorities had accused the Qatar-based Al Jazeera of acting as a mouthpiece for the Muslim Brotherhood, which had swept to power after the country's 2011 revolution.
Marwa Omara, the fiancee of Mohamed Fahmy, told Sky News the families were disappointed that the journalists had not been released before the retrial gets under way.
She said her fiance was in poor health with hepatitis B, but is in "high spirits".
"He's just a journalist who was doing his job," she said.
"They were accused of being members of the Muslim Brotherhood, fabricating news and harming national security, and calling for a civil war in Egypt. All these accusations are faulty and there is no evidence whatsoever - we don't understand why they are in prison."
Greste's mother, Lois, said: "We need some time to process. It's not as positive as we had hoped."
Defence lawyer Negad Al-Borai said after Thursday morning's hearing that he hoped for a "happy end" to the case. There has been speculation that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi could pardon or deport the men.
Sherine Tadros, Sky News' Middle East Correspondent, said a date for the retrial has not been set, but that lawyers could make a further request for bail on its first day.
She said: "There's another opportunity that they could be freed and wouldn't have to spend the next trial behind bars, but because these are very serious charges - belonging to a terrorist organisation is essentially what they're charged with - it's unlikely that this would be granted."
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Retrial Ordered For Al Jazeera Journalists
Dengan url
http://malurasanya.blogspot.com/2015/01/retrial-ordered-for-al-jazeera.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Retrial Ordered For Al Jazeera Journalists
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Retrial Ordered For Al Jazeera Journalists
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar