اسم السجين (اسم الشهرة) : محمد محمود فاضل فهمي (محمد فهمي)

النوع الاجتماعي : ذكر

تاريخ تحرير أو نشر الرسالة : 1/31/2014

السن وقت الاحتجاز: 40 عام

الوظيفة – نشاط بالمجال العام: صحفي بشبكة الجزيرة الإخبارية الإنجليزية

مكان احتجاز المرسل : منطقة سجون طرة

Mohamed on his treatment in prison

Mohamed on his treatment in prison: Dear honorable Egyptians and Heads of State who have pledged in-front of God to serve this noble country with honesty, neutrality and justice. It has been one month since my colleague Baher Gorab and myself have been incarcerated in the “Scorpion” Al Alkrab maximum security prison in solitary confinement, in the terrorism wing, in small cells infested with insects, freezing cold, with access to little food and no sunlight at all. After 21 days we were allowed family visits and they brought in hot food, juices, blankets, clothes toiletries we were also granted 1 hour out in the sun until the afternoon of Jan, 25. On that day in 2011, we fought for our freedom and boasted to the world about the success of our revolution and the end of tyranny. In 2014, the Ministry of Interior ‘s prison authority decided to strip us off our food, blankets, watches, juices, most of our clothes and until today our “sun” privileges have been suspended. I was denied a follow-up visit to the hospital to check on the status of my broken Humerus Bone close to the shoulder socket which has been making my life even harder in prison. After they left us with practically nothing in the cell, I asked the guard manning our wing through the 7×30 window crafted in the cell’s thick metal door overlooking a corridor ”Is this what you do to suspects under investigation, convicted rapists or killers get better treatment, where are the human rights promoted in our new constitution? “ Every night at 8 PM I try to continue my job as a journalist and I host the “Scorpion Live Talk-Show” one veteran jihadi had lived in Afghanistan with Bin Laden and witnessed the training of 19 men who executed the September 11 attacks. He was very proud of the shrapnel in his body from US rocket and described how he blew up the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan when Taliban failed to do so. Mohamed on the dangers of where he is being held: We were worried about Peter Greste, our Australian colleague who was imprisoned in Luman Tora. The last time I saw him we were handcuffed together and stuffed into a police transfer truck with hardcore jihadists who were singing Jihadi tunes referring to RPGs and suicide belts in celebration of another successful operation that left 3 Egyptian soldiers killed, that day I realized that detaining me with this group is life threatening. I cringed at their rejoice as I translated the lyrics to Peter. Our trip to the prosecutor was like an outing away from that cell, and a chance to meet hundreds of other prisoners who were kept in a huge cell in the garage of the prosecutor’s building before interrogation. I am glad Peter was not with me days later when I was handcuffed with a Jihadi who just returned from Syria. I told the prosecutor that detaining me with this group is life threatening. My lawyer affirmed my objection! I was asked about the source of funds and my role so I responded with a 101 in journalism. I explained to them that since I started with Aljazeera English just in September 2013, our cameras were not on the ground to cover any of the major news events like AL Azhar protests or any of the bombings or press conferences. We relied on footage from agencies such as Reuters or AP and our reporters relayed on casualties and statistics given to us by government ministries. I also provided emails that proved that Aljazeera English content was never used on the Arabic or Mubasher channels. They read me the accusations: 1- Member of a terrorist group 2- Providing a terrorist group with information 3- Fabricating news and spreading false information that threatens the national security of the country. I smiled at them as I denied all these words. The evidence against me included 4 staff laptops, 4 Cameras and one hard drive that contained Al Jazeera archive footage of the past 3 years. The التالي morning all major newspapers published a statement released by the prosecutor’s spokesmen stating that the “Marriott Cell” was fabricating news beneficial to Muslim Brotherhood to falsely portray an ongoing civil war in Egypt. The statement added that Doha was directing the coverage; I explained to them that we get assigned reports by news desk in Doha, just like London does for BBC and Atlanta for CNN. I explained that we were operating from Marriott like many channels do when they position themselves across Tahir square in the intercontinental. Are we, AJE a legal entity? “Yes” and the proof is that most of our staff have valid press ID’s issued from the ministry of Information. Our knowledge is that Aljazeera Mubasher Misr was officially shutdown by court and we temporarily shut our AJE office voluntarily due to the security situation. We had actually prepared a letter including the names of Peter, Baher, and myself in order to submit for our new press cards before deadline in December right before we were arrested. الكل my crime is not renewing my press card then don’t detain me with jihadists for a month! الكل my crime is having MB contacts on my phone, then so does every journalist in Egypt. The prosecutor then confronted me with the investigations report stating that I was hosting terrorists in my suite. I responded” In TV world they are called guests”. I was handing suite keys to foreign elements, I responded ” in TV world they are called foreign reporters”. “The Marriott Cell” now includes 20 “terrorists” and in TV world that means reporters and citizen journalists. I don’t know who else is in on the list but I learned that 4 students accused of uploading footage cooperating with Aljazeera Mubasher Misr are on the list. MOHAMED ON THE ISOLATION OF PRISON: I visit my family through glass barrier in a closed room while communication is conducted through a phone monitored by each word you say. I was very annoyed to learn that Mr. Mohamed Al Zawahiri could visit his family normally while I had to be treated like that and could not even hug my loved ones! I would like to thank all journalists moved by the case. Salute to the “Twitteraities” whom I hear are just as fierce as they were in Jan 25 and Jun 30. I wish ICRC; my السابق employer had access to Egyptian prisons. MOHAMED ON JOURغير محددLISM: I send greeting to AJE team I worked with since Sep 8, 2013. The reporters are mostly British citizens who have been in the field for decades and would never put their names or careers on the line and fabricate news. I made it very clear to the prosecutor that when government officials refused to appear on our reports, we made sure to include a written statement from them in the form of graphics that are inserted in the report to ensure balance so all sides of the story are marked. My mentors in the field of journalism know very well that I wouldn’t sleep at night if I even thought I reported faulty news let alone fabricate news! My late Grand Father and my role model was a police general and members of my family have fought in the armed forces for this Nobel country. I am hearing “unconfirmed” news that the case has been referred to court which means I will be here for months. I call for my immediate release along with my team members so I can get proper medication for my shoulder. I don’t know what will happen التالي but Peter, Baher, and myself will remain proud and free behind bars because journalists are not terrorists! Mohamed Fahmy Jan. 31 Tora Prison