The Canadian Press reports Mohamed Fahmy, one of three Al Jazeera journalists who have been jailed in Egypt for nearly a year had raised questions about security. A series of emails shows Fahmy, who was acting bureau chief for Al Jazeera English, reported concerns to Al Jazeera bosses in Qatar months before his arrest. In one, Fahmy reports being concerned about a story produced by his Al Jazeera English team and translated into Arabic and aired on Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr–an Al Jazeera network that had been banned in Egypt. “I would imagine that due to the security situation this action may come back to bite us,” he wrote.
Fahmy was arrested on Dec. 29 last year along with two colleagues, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed. Al Jazeera America is preparing to honor the three with a primetime special to mark the one-year anniversary of their arrest:
When asked what the network had done to protect Fahmy and his team in light of the concerns raised, a spokesperson for Al Jazeera told The Canadian Press the safety of its journalists was of utmost importance, and noted that the team in Egypt had been “content to continue working.”
Advertisement“As in any hostile environment, we gave them every support, including on safety, which we take more seriously than anything else,” said the spokesperson, who asked not to be named.
“No one should lose sight of the fact though that Baher, Peter and Mohammed have been sentenced to years in jail over serious baseless accusations, not due to paperwork offences.”