Qatar-based network Al Jazeera announced on Thursday
that it has launched a legal battle against the Egyptian authorities
Al-Jazeera has launched legal action against the Egyptian authorities,
saying that its journalists have been detained without charge and attacked, its
London-based lawyers announced Thursday.
The network said it had asked renowned
legal firm Carter-Ruck, a specialist in international law, to take action in
the international courts and before the United Nations over accusations of
harassment.
Since President Mohamed Morsi was
overthrown on July 3, Al-Jazeera says that "a large number" of its journalists
have been arrested and detained by the security services "either
without charge or on spurious and politically motivated charges".
It also accuses the military and police
of attacking its journalists and says that some of its offices
have been closed and its transmissions jammed.
The network said earlier this month
that its satellite signals had been blocked in the wake of its critical
coverage of Cairo's crackdown on Islamists.
"Independent experts" were
used by Al-Jazeera to determine where the jamming was coming from, the network
said on its website.
It said that trackers identified
locations east and west of Cairo, and specifically identified military
installations as the source of interference.
"Al-Jazeera cannot permit this
situation to continue," said a network spokesman in a statement released
by its legal team.
"The right of journalists to
report freely in situations of this kind is protected by international law and
is reaffirmed by UN Security Council Resolution 1738.
"Al-Jazeera has instructed its
lawyers to take all steps necessary worldwide to ensure that its journalists
can operate freely in the country, without fear of arbitrary arrest, jamming or
other forms of harassment and intimidation," he added.
The network said that authorities were
trying to silence dissenting voices so that "only the voices of its state-controlled
media" could be heard.
DCMF’s open letter to Egyptian
authorities
Doha Centre for Media Freedom has
written an open letter to the Egyptian authorities expressing concern over the
arrest of a prominent investigative journalist Ahmed Abu Deraa who
was detained since September 4.
The document has also been sent directly to the offices of the
Egyptian Minister of Information, Doria Sharah Al-Din and the Minister of
Defence and Military Production, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
In the
letter, the centre “demands the immediate and unconditional release of
Ahmed Abu Deraa” stating
that “journalists
should be allowed to work freely without fearing persecution.”
“Arresting journalists without charge
is unacceptable at any time, especially during times of political instability
and uncertainty, when members of the media must be allowed to carry out their work
free from facing detention by the authorities.”
DCMF has also expressed serious apprehension about the intent to
try the journalist in a military court, referring to previous issues associated
with such procedures.
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