On Tuesday, three Al Jazeera journalists were sentenced up to 10 years in prison in Egypt. The Egyptian government said the trio had aided the Muslim Brotherhood, a group labelled terrorist by the interim government, and had produced false news reports last December. One of the three, Mohamed Fahmy, is an Egyptian-Canadian and ex-CNN journalist. Peter Grest is a former BBC journalist, and the other is Baher Mohamed.
The verdicts have been strongly derided, especially due to the flimsy evidence provided by the prosecution. Whatever the journalists did, it obviously rattled the Egyptian government enough to put them away. Al Jazeera continues to stand by its journalists and their integrity, and is calling for their immediate release. The international response has been equally indignant, inspiring rightly justified fears of media restrictions in Egypt.
Journalism, as documented by the UN, is one of the most dangerous professions in the world. Whether it’s exposing things like corrupt governance, human rights violations, or creating international awareness, journalists make themselves plenty of enemies.
The UN reports journalists are actually in the most danger from people within their own countries when reporting on events that are happening domestically. While the facts can often be misconstrued, and journalists can sometimes have their own agendas, for the majority of the time, they are simply trying to find if something is really is what people say it is. And telling the truth is dangerous business.
Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera.
