Egypt court acquits Al Jazeera cameraman
Elizabeth LaForgia on February 2, 2014 1:57 PM ET
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An Egyptian court on Sunday acquitted an Al Jazeera television cameraman and 61 others accused of
participating in demonstrations in Cairo last July. Cameraman Mohamed
Badr was arrested during protests in Ramses Square in central Cairo
against the army's ouster of president Mohamed Morsi.
Badr, who has been held since July, was accused of "carrying out acts
of violence and thuggery," attempting to storm a police station and
targeting police officers with "firearms and birdshots." Al Jazeera
repeatedly denied the accusations. Badr's Lawyer Saaban Saeed told AFP that Badr is no longer involved in any other case and is
expected to be released by Egyptian authorities on Monday, following an
order of the court.
Last week Egyptian prosecutors charged
20 Al Jazeera journalists with joining or conspiring
with a terrorist group and broadcasting false images. The journalists
are accused of altering video footage to portray Egypt in a state of
"civil war" to assist the Muslim Brotherhood which was declared a terrorist group last December by the Egyptian government. The Committee to Protect Journalists published a report last December finding Egypt one of the top three most
dangerous nations in the world for journalists. Egypt saw a considerable
increase in journalist deaths in part because of the sectarian and
political violence. In September Al Jazeera took legal action against the Egyptian government, accusing the regime of detaining journalists without charges or on politically motivated
charges, raiding Al Jazeera offices, confiscating equipment and jamming
transmission of broadcasts. Al Jazeera demanded that the journalists detained in December should be released.
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