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 The verdict in a retrial was issued against Mohamed Fahmy, a
naturalized Canadian who has given up his Egyptian citizenship,
Baher Mohamed, an Egyptian, and Peter Greste, an Australian who was
deported in February.
Judge Hassan Farid said the defendants, dubbed the "Marriott Cell"
by the local press because they worked out of a hotel belonging to
that chain, "are not journalists and not members of the press
syndicate" and broadcast with unlicensed equipment.
Baher received an additional six months in prison. The state news
agency MENA said that extra time was handed down because he was in
possession of a bullet at the time of his arrest.
The three men were originally sentenced to between seven to 10 years
in prison on charges including spreading lies to help a terrorist
organization, a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood which the
military toppled from power two years ago.
 The three defendants denied all charges, calling them absurd, and
rights advocates said their arrest was part of a wider crackdown on
free speech since the army overthrew President Mohamed Mursi, a
senior Muslim Brotherhood figure, in July 2013 following mass unrest
over his rule.
Speaking on Al Jazeera in reaction to Saturday's verdict, Greste
said he was shocked at the scale of the sentence. "Words really
don't do justice," he said. "To be given three-year sentences is
outrageous. It is just devastating for me."
Fahmy and Mohamed, who had been released on bail in February after
over a year in jail, were taken back into custody after the verdict,
according to Fahmy's wife Marwa Omara. She was in tears after the
sentences were read out.
"We will appeal this verdict and we hope it will be reversed. We are
now going to be holding a series of meetings with government
officials where we will be asking for Mr. Fahmy's immediate
deportation to Canada," said Fahmy's lawyer Amal Clooney.
"His colleague Peter Greste was sent back to Australia; there is no
reason why the same thing shouldn't happen in Mr. Fahmy's case."
Western governments have voiced concern for freedom of expression in
Egypt since Mursi was ousted but have not taken concrete steps to
promote democracy in Egypt, an important Middle East ally.
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"Mohamed has been sentenced and all I can ask for now is for all his
colleagues to stand by him and to keep calling for his release, but
this is extremely unfair," said Fahmy's wife.
"I ask the Canadian government to extract him from here as he is a
Canadian citizen and to deport him back to Canada. All what I am
asking (for) is justice and fairness, for what happened with Peter
to be applied to Mohamed."
Al Jazeera condemned the court's decision in a statement read by the
channel's general director Mustafa Sawaq.
"This judgment is a new attack on the freedom of the press, and it’s
a black day in the history of the Egyptian judiciary."
Human rights groups have accused the Egyptian government of rolling
back freedoms won in the 2011 popular uprising that toppled veteran
autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Amnesty International called Saturday's verdict "farcical".
"The fact that two of these journalists are now facing time in jail
following two grossly unfair trials makes a mockery of justice in
Egypt," said Philip Luther, Amnesty's Director for the Middle East
and North Africa.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein; Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing
by Mark Heinrich)
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