A message from Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy

A message from Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy

Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy is wrongfully detained in Egypt

Please speak up for his freedom

Dear Tracy,

After a 19-month ordeal since I was first arrested along with my colleagues Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste, and endured more than 400 days of incarceration, it is just a matter of days before I know my fate.

On July 30 a Cairo judge will bring down a verdict in our lengthy retrial on unjust charges that we face for simply reporting the news and doing our job as journalists. 

If justice is to be served on the basis of the evidence—or lack thereof—we should be acquitted, so that this long and very painful ordeal will be over and I can get and start a new life in Canada. 

But I know this trial is influenced by political factors other than evidence, so I am nervous about the verdict.

Earlier this year, tens of thousands of individuals like you and organizations like Amnesty International Canada rallied to my cause and took action to press the Canadian government to intervene to negotiate my unconditional release. 

I took great inspiration from this support at the darkest times in solitary confinement and still do during my ongoing ordeal and will be forever grateful for it.

But now as my fate hangs in the balance, I am asking you to take action again. 

Please continue with your advocacy on my behalf both before and after the verdict comes down, and urge Prime Minister Harper to redouble Canadian government efforts to win my release and safe return to Canada.  

I thank you so much for your help. Every little action you take makes a difference to end my long ordeal and keep the plight of my colleagues and myself alive. 

 

Mohamed Fahmy

Cairo, Egypt

July 2015