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Sunday, 8 May 2016

Egypt sentences two Al Jazeera journalists, four others to death in espionage case

Dominating international headlines on Egypt this morning: An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced three journalists and three others to death after having been charged with threatening national security by leaking state secrets and documents to Qatar, Reuters reports. Alaa Omar Sablan and Ibrahim Mohammed Helal both work for Al Jazeera and Asmaa Al Khateeb is a reporter for Rassd, a pro-Muslim Brotherhood news network. All three can appeal the sentence, on which a final decision is expected to be reached on 18 June, according to the newswire. A verdict on former President Mohamed Morsi and several others charged in the same case was postponed to the same date. The news dominates the foreign coverage on Egypt this morning, with Al Jazeera, the WSJ, and CNN running with the story. For its part, Al Jazeera said: “The ruling is an unprecedented [one] in the history of journalism in the world; it represents a stab in the back of the profession and freedom of expression worldwide.”

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