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In Pictures: #FreeAJstaff

Hundreds of BBC reporters protested on Tuesday against the sentence handed down to Al Jazeera’s journalists in Egypt.

Hundreds of journalists packed the forecourt of the BBC headquarters in central London on Tuesday morning in a silent vigil to protest against the prison sentences handed to three Al Jazeera workers in Egypt 24 hours earlier.
By James Brownsell
Published On 25 Jun 2014

London, United Kingdom – Reporters are used to hearing the sound of their own voice. But for one minute on Tuesday morning, exactly 24 hours after jail sentences were handed down to six Al Jazeera English staff (two in absentia) in Egypt, hundreds of journalists stood in silent solidarity.

Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed – who have already spent more than 170 days behind bars in Cairo during a trial widely described as “farcical” – were accused of “spreading false news” and being allied with the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood.

BBC News Director James Harding told the crowd that the broadcaster would be calling on Egypt’s presidency to intervene and release the journalists.

“The verdict is unjust, the case is unfounded, and, taken together, the Egyptian authorities are not just robbing three innocent men of their freedom, they are intimidating journalists and inhibiting free speech,” he said.

Join the campaign to free our friends and colleagues using the Twitter hashtag: #FreeAJStaff.

BBC journalists including Tim Willcox (centre, blue jacket) joined the protest in solidarity with their colleagues from Al Jazeera.
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The protest, which was held exactly 24 hours after the sentences were handed down, attracted media attention around the world.
The Journalism Is Not A Crime campaign has been widely shared on social media, with hundreds of thousands of tweets using the hashtag #FreeAJStaff.
Leading journalists have described the jailings as an attempt to intimidate media workers, but many remain resolute and determined to continue reporting on the rising authoritarianism in Egypt.
At least 14 journalists are today being held by Egyptian authorities, and around 200 are in jail around the globe, according to the Index on Censorship.
The social media campaign has used a variety of keyword hashtags; you can join the campaign using the terms #JournalismIsNotACrime, #FreeJournalism and #FreeAJStaff.
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The UK(***)s National Union of Journalists said the jailing of Al Jazeera journalists was "a travesty of justice made by a kangaroo court".
Bill Thompson, of the BBC(***)s technology show "Click", told Al Jazeera that the jailing of journalists demonstrated there was "a risk posed by the judiciary that it may want to use us for political ends and that can(***)t be allowed to stand".
Al Jazeera(***)s own Barnaby Phillips reported from the scene of the protest in central London. More used to asking the questions, he was also interviewed by several media outlets about the fate of our friends and colleagues.