CAIRO—An Egyptian appeals court on Thursday ordered the retrial of three Al-Jazeera English journalists held for over a year on terror-related charges, a ruling that their lawyers hoped was a step toward resolving a case that brought a storm of international criticism on Egypt’s government.
The three will remain behind bars at least until the retrial begins. But their lawyers expressed cautious optimism that a quick retrial will lead to their eventual exoneration. Thursday’s ruling by the Court of Cassation, rights advocates said, exposed the highly politicized nature of their initial conviction and heavy sentences of up to 10 years in prison in a trial that they dismissed as a sham with no evidence.
The journalists, Canadian-Egyptian Mohammed Fahmy, Australian Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohammed, have argued they were targeted because of the Egyptian government’s political fight with Qatar, the Gulf nation that finances the Al-Jazeera news network. The two countries have been at odds over Qatar’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egyptian authorities have cracked down on ferociously since the July 2013 military ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Hopes have been raised that Egypt’s government now intends to free the men because of a recent public reconciliation between Egypt and Qatar.
A retrial would give a way out of the case for Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who in the past has largely turned aside calls for him to pardon the three by insisting he will not interfere in the judiciary. A retrial would also allow Cairo to continue to use the case as a bargaining chip with Qatar.
