Monday, February 23, 2015

Al Jazeera's Mohamed Fahmy slams Al Jazeera for what the journalist calls 'epic negligence'; says Al Jazeera left him unprotected.

Mohamed Fahmy, the Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257) journalist and former Egyptian cellmate of the released d Al Jazeera journalist Peter Greste is slamming Al Jazeera for what he calls "epic negligence" and says Al Jazeera left him and his Egyptian-based colleagues unprotected.

Mohamed Fahmy, who is also a former CNN producer and awaiting a retrial after more than a year in an Egyptian prison, told the Associated Press that Al Jazeera had its own political news agenda during the reign of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, an Egyptian, were jailed in June 2014 and were due back in Egytian court today, after the release last month of Peter Greste, but the case was adjourned to 8 March.

Mohamed Fahmy told Sky News (DStv 402) today that "Al Jazeera's shortcomings and the way they dealt with our security situation before our arrest and the epic negligence that they portrayed during the trial has also given the prosecution more firepower, basically."

Mohamed Fahmy said he raised these issues "constructively" through Al Jazeera "hoping that they would respond, and I hope they do".

No statement on any of this from Al Jazeera.