Retrial of Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt postponed

An Egyptian court has again postponed the retrial of Al Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, with a new hearing set for April 28.

Fahmy and Mohamed, who were jailed on charges of aiding a “terrorist organisation” and freed on bail on February 12 after more than 400 days, appeared in court on Wednesday.

The Cairo court, which adjourned the trial until later this month, also said the pair would have to report to police every day and could not leave Egypt.

“Our life is disturbed in all means, going out, hanging out, doing anything,” Fahmy and Mohamed told reporters outside the court house.

Canadian-Egyptian Fahmy and Egyptian Mohamed, along with Australian Peter Greste, were sentenced last year to between seven and 10 years in jail on charges including spreading lies to help a “terrorist organisation” – a reference to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Al Jazeera denies the accusations, saying its staff were doing their jobs.

Greste was freed on February 1 and deported after 400 days in a Cairo prison.

The journalists’ imprisonment reinforced the view of human rights groups that the government was rolling back freedoms gained after the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

Fahmy showed his new temporary Canadian passport, issued on Wednesday, to the media after he renounced his Egyptian citizenship last year as a condition of any future release from Egypt.

His original passport was seized upon his detention in 2013, but the Canadian government had been refusing to give him a new one citing his bail conditions.

Fahmy renounced his Egyptian citizenship last year as a condition of any future release from Egypt.