oped: Well at least Egypt knows how to deal with terrorist...unlike our enabler POTUS/CIC who staffed the WH with Muslim Brotherhood buddies!
Egypt’s authorities pressed charges of joining a terrorist group against 20 staff members of the Arab television channel Al Jazeera, including an Australian, two Britons and a Dutch citizen.
The defendants, the rest of whom are Egyptian, are also charged with spreading false news that endangers national security and harms Egypt’s image, according to a faxed statement from the prosecution yesterday. It said they used two suites in a luxury hotel in Cairo as a media center to pursue those aims.
The prosecutors said the defendants “fabricated footage” to create “unreal scenes” and give the impression to the outside world that “the country is witnessing a civil war.” It said their efforts were intended to serve the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was declared a terrorist group by Egyptian authorities last month.
The Brotherhood has been the target of an unprecedented crackdown since Egypt’s army toppled elected Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in July. Many of its top leaders are on trial, including Mursi, and hundreds of supporters have been killed by security forces as they protested the military intervention.
Al Jazeera is owned by Qatar’s ruling family, who are among the main supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in the region, and backed Egypt with financial aid during Mursi’s one-year presidency.
The channel said the allegations against its journalists are “absurd, baseless and false.”
“This is a challenge to free speech, to the right of journalists to report on all aspects of events, and to the right of people to know what is going on,” it said in an e-mailed statement.
Al Jazeera said five of its journalists are in detention, and it hasn’t been notified about developments in the case. It said it now has no journalists reporting in Egypt.
To contact the reporter on this story: Salma El Wardany in Cairo at selwardany@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net
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