As Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy, and Baher Mohamed mark 100 days in jail in Egypt, Al Jazeera is renewing calls for the immediate release of the journalists.
Calling the charges “false and baseless,” Al Jazeera English managing director Al Anstey said there is “no justification whatsoever in the detention of innocent journalists for such an outrageous amount of time.” He also called for the release of Abdullah Al Shamy, an Al Jazeera Arabic journalist who has been held for 236 days and has been a hunger strike since January 23.
“We are very grateful for the immense support of our staff, from right around the world. The response to their detention has been outstanding,” Anstey said in a statement. “The campaign is focused on the release of our four staff, but is fundamentally a stand in the defence of journalism itself, and a call for people everywhere to have a right to be heard and the right to know what is really going on in their world.”
In London, a crowd gathered outside the BBC’s Broadcasting House in support of the detained journalists.
Journalists gather outside BBC to call for freedom of Aljazeera team in Egypt #FreeAJStaff http://t.co/0cpfxfMgtS pic.twitter.com/XDLMxviSOK
— BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) April 7, 2014