Three reporters received harsh seven year sentences for being part of that well-known terrorist outfit, Al Jazeera, which had the effrontery to criticize the Egyptian government. Australia, Canada, Britain, the Netherlands, and other countries have condemned the sentences. The US has not. The US supports the Sisi government. Military aid will continue to flow to the thug state of Egypt. Secretary of State John Kerry did say he’d like to see the reporters freed, a tepid statement indeed, and one which makes a lie of US pretenses of championing democracy and freedom.
Rights groups called the outcome a heavy blow to press freedom, particularly in the wake of Egypt’s broad rollback of other basic rights, including freedom of expression and assembly. Amnesty International denounced the proceedings as a sham.
Al Jazeera denounced the verdicts, saying in a statement that the court outcome “defies logic, sense, and any semblance of justice.”