Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy stands behind bars at a court in Cairo May 15, 2014.Reuters
The family of imprisoned Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy have made a last-minute call for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to personally intervene before Mr. Fahmy's retrial in Cairo Thursday.
"We are asking Prime Minister Harper to initiate personal, meaningful dialogue with President [Adbel Fattah] el-Sissi today, by telephone, before Mohamed's retrial begins," Mr. Fahmy's brother, Adel, said in a statement.
Two of the original three Al Jazeera journalists imprisoned in Egypt are set to be retried after an appeal against their sentencing was upheld by the Supreme Court last month.
Mr. Fahmy, a former dual Canadian-Egyptian national who has since renounced his Egyptian citizenship, and his Egyptian producer, Baher Mohamed, will be retried on charges of "spreading false news" and "aiding a terrorist organization."
Their colleague Peter Greste was freed and deported to Australia on Feb. 1.
Mr. Fahmy was expected to have been deported to Canada last week after Mr. el-Sissi issued a decree allowing the deportation of foreigners being held in Egyptian jails. The journalist had renounced his Egyptian citizenship in order to apply for deportation, but despite assurances by Egyptian officials last week that his release was "imminent," he remains behind bars.
"We were shocked by the news that he would have to be retried as we has assurances from the Canadian government and embassy that he would be released," Mr. Fahmy's fiancée, Marwa Omara, told The Globe and Mail.
"We've called many times for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to intervene like the Australian president did, but nothing. So we're very disappointed with the Canadian government," she said.
Ms. Omara said Mr. Fahmy is disappointed that he is now being retried after having given up his Egyptian citizenship, something she said he chose to do primarily for her and his parents. "This is a very hard and painful situation we're in," Ms. Omara said.
Mr. Greste and Mr. Fahmy were originally sentenced to seven years imprisonment by notorious Egyptian judge Nagy Shehata on charges of producing biased news in favour of the Muslim Brotherhood, which the government labels a terrorist organization. Mr. Mohamed was sentenced to 10 years on the same charges, aggravated by the possession of a bullet casing.
Mr. Fahmy's brother, Adel, said the family are not holding their breath for the results of Thursday's trial. "We won't believe anything we hear unless he's on a flight back to Canada," he told The Globe.
When former foreign minister John Baird was in Cairo, Mr. Fahmy's brother said, he made an "unacceptable diplomatic error" in proclaiming publicly that Mr. Fahmy would not be retried in Canada if he were deported.
"This is not just about Mohamed, it's about all innocent Canadians who could find themselves in prison in the Middle East or elsewhere," he said. "All we've seen is mistakes and mild rhetoric – this does not portray the government as one that stands for free expression. …
"A conservative approach by the government at a time of such urgency has failed us and left Mohamed behind bars for perhaps another year as this retrial continues."