Egypt Court Orders Retrial In Al-Jazeera Case

An Egyptian appeals court ordered a retrial Thursday in the case of three imprisoned Al-Jazeera English journalists.

The decision by Egypt’s Court of Cassation came after a hearing that lasted only a few minutes.

Canadian-Egyptian Mohammed Fahmy, Australian journalist Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohammed, who have been held since their arrest in December 2013, were not granted bail.

The three journalists did not attend the brief hearing Thursday morning in Cairo.

Defense lawyers said they believed a retrial for the three men would be held within a month.

Adel Fahmy, Mohammed Fahmy’s brother, said he had hoped that his brother would have been freed Thursday. He said each lawyer received three minutes to argue the case.

“I hoped for more today,” he said.

Rights groups dismissed the trial as a sham and foreign countries, including the U.S., expressed their concern over the journalists’ detention.

Authorities accused Qatar-based Al-Jazeera of acting as a mouthpiece for the Brotherhood. The news agency denied the accusations and said the journalists were doing their jobs.

This article appeared in print on page 2 of the January 2nd, 2015 edition of Hamodia.