20 Al Jazeera Journalists Face Charges in Egypt

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• By the military-backed government that ousted President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood
• The Brotherhood has  been outlawed and declared a terrorist organization
• Al Jazeera is the only major Arabic-language news outlet available in Egypt sympathetic to the Brotherhood and critical of the government
• It has been the target of a campaign by the government
• Accused of manipulating video footage to produce unreal scenes to suggest the country is in a civil war
• Broadcast the images to assist the terrorist group in achieving its purpose of influencing international public opinion.
• 16 of the 20 are Egyptians charged with joining a terrorist group with the purpose of damaging national security and social peace
• The other four were comprised of two British, one Australian, and one Dutch charged with collaborating with the Egyptian defendants by providing money equipment, and information.
• All were charged with possession of documents and recordings promoting the group
• If convicted several years in prison will be served
• Eight are in custody the others are fugitives
• “The world knows these allegations against our journalists are absurd, baseless and false.” – Al Jazeera
• The State Department spokeswoman said, Egypt should reconsider the prosecution, “The governments targeting of journalists and others on spurious claims is wrong and demonstrates egregious disregard for the protection of basic rights and freedoms