NAIROBI: Journalists Protest Jailings in Egypt

Members of the media sit with their mouths bound by tape and cloth in the colors of the Egyptian flag at a demonstration by Kenyan and Nairobi-based foreign media. 
 

The journalists in Kenya's capital shouted slogans and marched through the streets Tuesday before sitting outside the Egyptian Embassy in support of jailed reporters in Cairo. 

The protesting media members and supporters called for all journalists jailed in Egypt to be freed, but the group focused its attention on Peter Greste, a Nairobi-based correspondent for Al Jazeera who has been in custody since Dec. 29 

The Nairobi-based correspondent Greste is said to have been taken into custody in Cairo, Egypt in December, and is among 20 journalists working for Al Jazeera , including four foreigners, who will face trial there on charges of joining or aiding a terrorist group and endangering national security. The Egyptian government accused the news station of being sympathetic to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, a powerful, conservative force in the country.

Greste has been imprisoned in Cairo since 29 December along with his Al-Jazeera colleagues Fahmy and Baher Mohamed. Two other Al-Jazeera journalists have been in detention for five months. Egyptian authorities have since announced they would be charging 20 journalists with a range of offences. 

Australia’s Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance also called on journalists to sign a petition for the release of the trio. The US senator John McCain also called for the release of the journalists.

Source New York Daily News