Al Jazeera to appeal ' deliberate attack on press freedom'

  • 30/08/2015
Canadian-Egyptian Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy (L), lawyer Amal Clooney (C) and Canadian Ambassador to Egypt, Troy Lulashnyk (R) attend a court session, in the Tora prison, Cairo. (AAP)
Canadian-Egyptian Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy (L), lawyer Amal Clooney (C) and Canadian Ambassador to Egypt, Troy Lulashnyk (R) attend a court session, in the Tora prison, Cairo. (AAP)

Al Jazeera has vowed to appeal an Egyptian court verdict to sentence three of its journalists to three years in prison, calling it a "deliberate attack on press freedom".

The Qatar-based broadcaster said it would appeal the "grotesque" verdict as soon as the Cairo court has explained its decision, and would also "intensify" its campaign to get its reporters freed.

Canadian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed were in court for Saturday's verdict.

Australian journalist Peter Greste was tried in absentia after his deportation early this year.

At a press conference at its Doha headquarters, the network's head of litigation Farah Al Muftah said Al Jazeera would not give up.

"At this point we are just waiting for the actual reasoned decision from the court to be released," she said.

"Once we have their reasoned decision, we will be in a place where we can actually appeal the court's decision to the court of cassation.

"Once that is released we will have 60 days to appeal at the court of cassation, which we intend to do."

Giles Trendle, acting managing director of Al Jazeera English, said the company was "in a state of shock" but vowed to "look at relaunching, intensifying and escalating" the international campaign for the journalists' release.

"Today's verdict is yet another deliberate attack on press freedom," he said.

"It's a dark day for the Egyptian judiciary. Rather than defend liberty and the free and fair media, the Egyptian judiciary has compromised its own independence."

Trendle's colleague Osama Saeed called the verdict "grotesque".

AFP