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Pressure mounts to free Al-Jazeera journalists imprisoned in Egypt

International action to free a trio of Al-Jazeera journalists began last night with a rally in Sydney. Al-Jazeera correspondent Peter Greste and producers Baher Mohamed and Mohammed Fahmy have been held in an Egyptian prison since 29 December.

by WAN-IFRA Staff executivenews@wan-ifra.org | February 27, 2014

Other journalists from Al-Jazeera English’s sister organisations Al-Jazeera Arabic and Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr are also being held.

The rally in Australia started the campaign, initiated by Al Jazeera, and was accompanied by calls for the Australian Prime Minister to intervene personally.

Al-Jazeera reports that the White House, the European Union and the United Nations have all called for the release of the journalists.

In a statement dated 10 February, WAN-IFRA expressed serious concern at events in Egypt and called for the immediate release of all journalists imprisoned for simply doing their work.

Today protests are continuing around the world. So far, protests have taken place in South Africa, where Greste had previously worked, and London. There, the Foreign Press Association in London has also expressed solidarity.

social media campaign has accompanied the protests. Al-Jazeera journalists began to photograph themselves with their mouths covered with tape reading “#freeAJstaff”. The trend then went on to spread globally, with journalists from all over the world joining in.

The Greste Trio trial has been adjourned until 5 March.

*Picture credit: Australian broadcaster and former foreign correspondent Mark Colvin, shared on Twitter

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