Mohamed Fahmy, the Al-Jazeera reporter who was pardoned by presidential decree, has called on President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to help him regain Egyptian citizenship. He was forced to give it up in order to be released from prison following charges that accused him of being part of the “Marriott Cell” case, which led to his deportation to Canada, according to wife Marwa.
“My husband loves Egypt and cannot live away from her,’ she said.
Fahmy also met with members of the British Parliament and the President of the International Federation of Journalists in London to explain the details of the international lawsuit he has filed against Al-Jazeera.
“As we expect governments to respect freedom of the press and not to imprison journalists, we also expect news channels to be objective and not support any certain faction,” he said. “The protection of journalists is more important than news stories.”
In his speech at the Frontline Club with his lawyer Amal Clooney, Fahmy said that he did not fabricate news and that the responsibility of a reporter should be separated from that of the news channel, adding that Al-Jazeera violated the press code of conduct without the knowledge of its reporters, and that it violated international agreements on the security and safety of journalists.
“Al-Jazeera has misled me. It did not have a broadcast license,” he said, adding that the channel broadcast his English reports on Al-Jazeera Mubasher without his knowledge.
“Al-Jazeera is the political arm of the Qatari Foreign Ministry in Egypt and the Arab world,” he said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
