エジプトで軍批判したアルジャジーラの外国人ジャーナリスト、400日ぶりに釈放される

エジプトで中東カタールの衛星テレビ局「アルジャジーラ」のジャーナリスト3人が軍に批判的な報道を行ったことで懲役7年の一審判決をを受けていた問題で、2月1日、3人のうちオーストラリア人ジャーナリストのピーター・グレステ記者が400日ぶりに釈放され、エジプトを離れた。
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Al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste looks out from the defendant's cage during the sentencing hearing for journalists working for Al-Jazeera in a courtroom in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, June 23, 2014. An Egyptian court on Monday convicted three journalists from Al-Jazeera English and sentenced them to seven years in prison each on terrorism-related charges, bringing widespread criticism that the verdict was a blow to freedom of expression. The three, Australian Peter Greste, Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohammed, have been detained since December charged with supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been declared a terrorist organization, and of fabricating footage to undermine Egypt's national security and make it appear the country was facing civil war. (AP Photo/Ahmed Abd El Latif, El Shorouk Newspaper) EGYPT OUT
ASSOCIATED PRESS

エジプトで中東カタールの衛星テレビ局「アルジャジーラ」のジャーナリスト3人が軍に批判的な報道を行ったことで懲役7年の一審判決を受けていた問題で、2月1日、3人のうちオーストラリア人ジャーナリストのピーター・グレステ記者が400日ぶりに釈放され、エジプトを離れた。

懲役刑を受けていたのはグレステ記者のほか、エジプト系カナダ人のモハンマド・ファハミ記者、エジプト人のモハンマド・バヘール記者。2014年にテロに関連した容疑で7年の懲役刑を受けた。人権団体からは、この裁判は不正だと非難されている。

残り2人についてはその場で説明はなかったが、今も収監中と見られる。

グレステ記者は1日午後、キプロスのラルナカ行きのエジプト航空に搭乗した。

エジプトの国営通信社によると、グレステ記者がシシ大統領の「許諾」に従い、1年以上の拘束後に解放されたとしている。

グレステ記者が所属するアルジャジーラは次のようにTwitterでコメントしている。

アルジャジーラはピーター・グレステ記者解放のニュースを歓迎すると共に、モハメド・ファハミ、バヘール両記者の解放を求める。

声明の中で、アルジャジーラメディアネットワークのムスタファ・スアグ報道局長は「ピーターと彼の家族が再び一つとなれることを歓迎します」と述べている。

「彼らにとっては信じがたい不当な試練でした。しかし彼らは信じられないほどの威厳を持って立ち向かいました。ピーターの威厳は損なわれていないし、さらに強固なものとなりました。ピーターが見せた不屈の精神と犠牲によって、一般の人々に彼のプロフェッショナルの精神を示しました。

我々はバヘール、ファハミ両記者も再び自由の身となるまで安心できません。エジプト当局は現在のこの状態を解消する権限があり、まさに彼らがやらなければならないことなのです」

アルジャジーラ英語版のアル・アンステイ専務はCNNに「無実の人を解放するのに祝うことはない」と述べた。

2014年に改正された刑法では、アブドゥル・ファタハ・アル・シシ大統領に「国家の安全保障上」という理由で外国人の被告や受刑者を国外追放する権限が与えられている。この法では、ジャーナリストを解放するための有効な法的根拠となるか疑わしかった。

シシ大統領は、この問題を解決したいと繰り返し述べていた。国際的な非難に駆り立てられた形だ。

今回の問題は、#freeAJstaff や #journalismisnotacrime といったハッシュタグがつけられ、著名なジャーナリストたちが口をテープでふさぎ、検閲に抗議するポーズをとった画像とともにソーシャルメディア上で拡散した。

Peter Greste, Al Jazeera Journalist, Freed From Jail In Egypt
Mideast Egypt Al Jazeera(01 of22)
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FILE - In this Saturday, May 3, 2014 file photo, Al-Jazeera\'s award-winning Australian correspondent Peter Greste, appears in a defendants\' cage in a courthouse near Tora prison in Cairo, Egypt. A senior Egyptian prison official and the country\'s official news agency say Greste has been freed from prison and is on his way to Cairo airport to leave the country. (AP Photo/Hamada Elrasam, File) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Mideast Egypt Al Jazeera(02 of22)
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FILE - This combination of three 2014 file photos shows from left, Canadian-Egyptian journalist Mohamed Fahmy, Al-Jazeera\'s Australian correspondent Peter Greste, and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed at a court room during their trial in Cairo, Egypt. An appeals court in Egypt on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2015 has ordered a retrial in the case of the three imprisoned Al-Jazeera English journalists. (AP Photo/Ahmed Abd El Latif, Hamada Elrasam, File) EGYPT OUT (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Mideast Egypt Al Jazeera(03 of22)
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FILE - In this Thursday, May 15, 2014 file photo, from left, Mohammed Fahmy, Canadian-Egyptian acting bureau chief of Al-Jazeera, Australian correspondent Peter Greste, and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed appear in a defendant\'s cage along with several other defendants during their trial on terror charges at a courtroom in Cairo. On Wednesday, July 23, an Egyptian judge released his reasoning for harsh sentences issued against three Al-Jazeera journalists, saying they were brought together âby the devilâ to fake news reports with the aim of destabilizing the country. (AP Photo/Hamada Elrasam, File) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Mideast Egypt(04 of22)
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Al Jazeera English bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy, left, producer Baher Mohamed, second left, and correspondent Peter Greste, center, stand inside the defendants\' cage in a courtroom during their trial on terror charges, along with several other defendants, in Cairo Egypt, Wednesday, March 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Mohammed Abu Zaid) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Mideast Egypt(05 of22)
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Al Jazeera producer Baher Mohamed, left, and correspondent Peter Greste, center, stand inside the defendants\' cage in a courtroom during their trial on terror charges, along with several other defendants, in Cairo Egypt, Wednesday, March 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Mohammed Abu Zaid) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Mideast Egypt Al Jazeera(06 of22)
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FILE - In this Monday, March 31, 2014 file photo, Al-Jazeera English producer Baher Mohamed, left, Canadian-Egyptian acting Cairo bureau chief Mohammed Fahmy, center, and correspondent Peter Greste, right, appear in court along with several other defendants during their trial on terror charges, in Cairo, Egypt. senior Egyptian prison official and the country\'s official news agency said Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015, that Al-Jazeera\'s Australian reporter Peter Greste has been freed from prison. A Cairo airport official says Greste has left Egypt on a flight to Cyprus after his release from prison. The agency said his release on Sunday, after more than a year behind bars, followed a presidential \"approval\" and both said it was coordinated with the Australian Embassy in Cairo. (AP Photo/Heba Elkholy, El Shorouk, File) EGYPT OUT (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Mideast Egypt Al Jazeera(07 of22)
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FILE - In this Monday, March 31, 2014 file photo, Al-Jazeera English bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy, center, producer Baher Mohamed, center left, and correspondent Peter Greste, second right, stand in a courtroom along with several other defendants during their trial on terror charges, in Cairo, Egypt. The lawyers of an imprisoned Egyptian-Canadian Al-Jazeera journalist have called for his release, either on the basis of a recent law that allows Egypt\'s president to deport foreign defendants, or because of health reasons. Amal Clooney and Mark Wassouf said Monday, Nov. 24, 2014 that Mohammed Fahmy should benefit from the law, or be released because he suffers from Hepatitis C. (AP Photo/Sarah El Deeb, File) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Britain Egypt Al Jazeera(08 of22)
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A journalist, with black tape over the mouth to illustrate the silencing of free speech and journalists, demonstrates across the street from the Egyptian Embassy to mark a year since the detention of Al-Jazeera English journalists in Egypt, central London, Monday, Dec. 29, 2014. The unprecedented arrest and prosecution of Australian Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Mohammed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohammed sent a chill through the media in Egypt. They were detained in a raid on suspicion of helping the Muslim Brotherhood, which the government later declared a terrorist organization, and were sentenced to between seven and 10 years in prison in a trial that most observers called a politicized sham that lacked any evidence to incriminate the journalists of anything beyond doing their job. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Mideast Yemen(09 of22)
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Yemeni journalists protest by taping shut their mouths and holding placards to denounce the imprisonment in Egypt of journalists Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, June 25, 2014. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Tuesday rejected calls from the United States and other Western governments that he pardon or commute the sentences of three Al-Jazeera journalists who were handed heavy prison terms. The journalists say they are being prosecuted simply for doing their job. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed) (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
YEMEN-EGYPT-JUSTICE-AL-JAZEERA -DEMO(10 of22)
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Yemeni women hold placards during a protest gathering notably journalists on June 25, 2014 in the capital Sanaa in solidarity with Al-Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt. Egypt\'s president said on June 24 the authorities will not interfere in the judiciary, as protests were staged worldwide in solidarity with the journalists, including award-winning Australian journalist Peter Greste who was sentenced to seven years in jail. The placards read \'journalism is not a crime\'. AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED HUWAIS (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:MOHAMMED HUWAIS via Getty Images)
YEMEN-EGYPT-JUSTICE-AL-JAZEERA -DEMO(11 of22)
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Yemenis, one with a gag on the mouth, hold placards during a protest on June 25, 2014 in the capital Sanaa in solidarity with Al-Jazeera journalists (seen on the poster) jailed in Egypt. Egypt\'s president said on June 24 the authorities will not interfere in the judiciary, as protests were staged worldwide in solidarity with the journalists, including award-winning Australian journalist Peter Greste who was sentenced to seven years in jail. The placard reads \'journalism is not a crime\'. AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED HUWAIS (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:MOHAMMED HUWAIS via Getty Images)
Protests Against The Jailed Al-Jazeera Journalists(12 of22)
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LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 24: The BBC\'s Director of News and Current Affairs, James Harding (R), joins staff and colleagues from other news organisations in a one-minute silent protest outside New Broadcasting House against the seven-year jail terms given to three al-Jazeera journalists in Egypt on June 24, 2014 in London, England. A court in Cairo found al-Jazeera\'s Cairo bureau chief, Mohamed Fahmy, who is Canadian-Egyptian, Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed and Australian correspondent Peter Greste guilty of spreading false news. (Photo by Rob Stothard/Getty Images) (credit:Rob Stothard via Getty Images)
YEMEN-EGYPT-JUSTICE-AL-JAZEERA -DEMO(13 of22)
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A Yemeni woman, with a gag on the mouth, holds placards during a protest on June 25, 2014 in the capital Sanaa in solidarity with Al-Jazeera journalists (seen on the posters) jailed in Egypt. Egypt\'s president said on June 24 the authorities will not interfere in the judiciary, as protests were staged worldwide in solidarity with the journalists, including award-winning Australian journalist Peter Greste who was sentenced to seven years in jail. AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED HUWAIS (Photo credit should read MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:MOHAMMED HUWAIS via Getty Images)
Gotye(14 of22)
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The Gotye song Somebody That I Used To Know was presented to the court, according to Guardian reporter Patrick Kingsley, with no explanation given.\n\nAn engineer, who helped prepare the evidence and signed a document saying it was incriminating, told the court he had not analysed it and couldn\'t say whether it pointed to the journalists\' guilt.
Peter Greste's holiday snaps(15 of22)
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According to the Australian, members of the court could barely stifle giggles when pictures of former BBC journalist Peter Greste\'s laptop was analysed in court.\n\nPictures of his parents on holiday in Latvia and Germany were shown to the court, without any comment on why they formed evidence against Greste. (credit:Getty Images)
A Panorama documentary about Somalia(16 of22)
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The court was shown a report on Somalia Greste had done for the BBC’s Panorama program — for which he had won a Peabody Award.\n\n“It shows there is not a single shred of evidence against us,” Greste said at the time. “But I’m also very proud — I won a Peabody for that.\n\n“I wish they had shown more of that programme because it shows the sort of journalism we do rather than the sort of journalism we are alleged to have done.” (credit:Getty Images)
A Kenyan news conference(17 of22)
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The short video was shown to the court from Greste\'s laptop on April 11. His lawyer told the judge: “Your Honour, it has taken several sessions of this court to reach a point where we are watching videos from Kenya and Somalia which have nothing to do with Egypt.” (credit:Getty Images)
A doctored picture of Mohamad Fahmy(18 of22)
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Al Jazeera quoted reporters in the room as saying the picture of Fahmy standing behind former Egyptian military chief Mohamed Hussein Tantawihad been \"clearly doctored\".\n\n“But, doctored or not doctored,” his brother Adel Fahmy told the Globe and Mail, “there’s nothing wrong with it because it was taken prior to the Muslim Brotherhood regime.” (credit:Getty Images)
Footage of sheep(19 of22)
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Footage of sheep farming was submitted as part of the video evidence, according to the Globe and Mail. No further comment was made. (credit:Getty Images)
A clip from Sky News Arabic(20 of22)
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None of the journalists have ever worked there and had nothing to do with the clip that was shown, according to the Australian.
A documentary about horses in Egypt(21 of22)
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None of the journalists ever worked on the documentary in question. (credit:AP)
A documentary about football in Egypt(22 of22)
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Greste did work on this documentary for Al Jazeera, but he said he showed exactly the opposite of what the prosecution were trying to prove.\n\n\"We\'re accused of showing that the country is at war. This story shows the opposite. It\'s a story that shows we have no agenda,\' he shouted at the judge when the clip was shown on May 22. (credit:Getty Images)

この記事はハフポストUK版に掲載されたものを翻訳しました。

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