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Egypt's free speech suffers serious blow

Sisi rules out 'interference' as int'l outrage intensifies over journo jailings

Agencies
The future of three al-Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt looks bleaker after Egypt's strongman president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, refused a pardon, ignoring pleas from Barack Obama to release them and other political prisoners.
"We will not interfere in judicial rulings," Sisi said on Tuesday morning. “We must respect judicial rulings and not criticise them even if others do not understand this."
International outrage at Egypt's brutal crackdown on dissent intensified yesterday after the verdicts on Monday which jailed the journalists to up to a decade in jail for endangering Egypt's national security
Rights campaigners and journalists and media organisations portrayed the verdict as a frightening assault on what remains of Egyptian
free speech.
But it also represented a shaming slapdown to American diplomacy, coming only a day after John Kerry landed in Egypt for a brief meeting with Egypt's president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in which he raised the issue and called for Egypt to improve its human rights record.
The courtroom, packed with reporters, diplomats and relatives, erupted at the verdict which came despite prosecutors failing "to produce a single shred of solid evidence", according to Amnesty International, which monitored the trial.
In an official Amnesty statement, the group called the verdict a "dark day" forpress freedom.
Amnesty's reaction was matched by a furious international response that saw several foreign ministers and state leaders expressing outrage
at the verdict.
US secretary of state John Kerry said it was "chilling and draconian", British prime minister David Cameron condemned the verdict as "completely appalling" while Australia's foreign minister, Julie Bishop - whose fellow countryman, Peter Greste, was one of those convicted - said that the "Australian government simply cannot understand it based on the evidence that was presented in the case".
France, Australia, the Netherlands and Britain all summoned their respective Egyptian ambassadors to explain the verdict in what marked the fiercest international condemnation of Egypt's crackdown on dissent since the killing of over 600 anti-government protesters last August.
The backlash followed the sentencing of former BBC correspon-
dent Peter Greste, the ex-CNN journalist Mohamed Fahmy, and local producer Baher Mohamed to seven, seven and 10 years respectively for endangering Egypt's national security, falsifying news, and helping terrorists. Four students and activists indicted in the case were sentenced to seven years.
Jeremy Bowen, the BBC's Middle East editor, said the verdicts and sentencing were a blow to freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
BuzzFeed's Middle East correspondent, Sheera Frenkel, said the verdict was "a terrifying declaration of intent against all journalists in Egypt. They are telling us that we should toe the line or risk being next. The Egyptian judiciary declared journalism a crime today, and found Greste, Mohamed, and Fahmy guilty for doing their jobs."