Signs of hope for jailed Al Jazeera journalists

Legalbrief reports that the case, which triggered major outrage, has been widely seen as political and reflecting the anger of the current regime with the television station's Qatari sponsors who backed the Islamists. Amnesty International (AI) said the retrial acknowledged major flaws in the original convictions. Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were denied bail at last week's appeal hearing as the court said the case had to go back to the criminal court. 'The Court of Cassation has accepted their appeal and ordered a retrial,' Greste's defence lawyer Amr Al-Deeb said after the brief hearing. Al Jazeera reports that defence lawyers said they believed a retrial for the three men would be held within a month. 'These men should never have been jailed in the first place and should not have to spend one more day in prison. Instead of prolonging their unjust detention pending a retrial, they must be freed immediately,' said Hassiba Hadjsahraoui, AI's Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director. Greste and Fahmy were sentenced to seven years in prison, while Mohamed received an additional three years for having a spent bullet in his possession, which he had picked up at a protest site. BBC News reports that two of the journalists are foreign nationals - Greste, a former BBC correspondent, is Australian, and his producer colleague Fahmy holds Egyptian and Canadian citizenship. Full Al Jazeera report Full BBC News report

Al Jazeera has called for the quick release of its journalists. A report on the Gulf Times site notes that the news channel said that prolongation of the custody of its three staffers while legal proceedings dragged on could only do further damage to Egypt's international standing. Company spokesperson Mostafa Souag welcomed the retrial but said the journalists had been 'unjustly imprisoned'. Full report on the Gulf Times site

Two of the three journalists have applied to be deported under a new law, says a BDlive report. Greste and Fahmy's lawyers are seeking deportation of the pair. The reporters' imprisonment is a thorny issue for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who ousted his Islamist predecessor in July 2013 and cracked down on the Brotherhood, as he seeks to prove his commitment to reform. Their families say they are paying the price for a deterioration in ties between Qatar, which owns Al Jazeera, and Egypt following the Brotherhood's expulsion from power. Doha supported the Brotherhood during its year in power but a recent Saudi push to heal the rift had raised expectations the reporters would be freed, the report notes. It says a recently-passed law allows for foreign convicts or suspects to be transferred to their country to serve their sentences or to be tried there. It was not clear how it might be applied in the Al Jazeera case since it has yet to be used and there are no precedents, the report states. Full BDlive report

British human rights lawyer Amal Clooney has claimed in an interview that she was threatened with arrest in Egypt after identifying flaws in the judicial system that later contributed to the convictions of the journalists. Clooney, a rights lawyer who married Hollywood star George Clooney in Venice last year, helped compile a report for the International Bar Association (IBA) in February 2014 that raised questions about the independence of judges and prosecutors in Egypt. A report on the ABC site notes that she is one of the lawyers representing one of the three Al Jazeera reporters currently detained in Cairo. The report warned about the wide powers that Ministers had over judges and highlighted a record of selective prosecutions. One of the recommendations in her report was to end the practice that allows Egyptian officials to handpick judges in certain politicised cases, the report states. Full report on the ABC site

The IBA report urges the future Egyptian Government to take action to promote the independence of the judiciary and prosecution services, in order to strengthen the rule of law in Egypt. The 85-page report, Separating Law and Politics: Challenges to the Independence of Judges and Prosecutors in Egypt, found that, although judicial independence is protected as a principle at the highest level, in practice and in process, the executive (particularly through the Ministry of Justice) is given wide powers over judges, providing scope for abuse. Furthermore, the report calls on the transitional and future government to rectify the country's record of selective prosecutions by instituting a meaningful and peaceful transitional justice process that guarantees independence and impartiality. The report is based on the findings of an IBA investigative mission to Cairo in June 2013, and subsequent remote investigations held between August and November 2013. Full IBA report