Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


          Egypt's Sissi Decrees Law on Repatriating Foreign Prisoners

   by Reuters

   President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi issued a decree on Wednesday allowing
   him to repatriate foreign prisoners in Egypt, state media said, a move
   that could enable the release of an Al Jazeera journalist now serving a
   seven-year jail term.

   ''Peter Greste, an Australian citizen, was sentenced in June along with
   Canadian-Egyptian national Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed,
   all from the Qatar-based television network.

   They were detained in December and convicted six months later of
   spreading lies to help a "terrorist organization" - an allusion to the
   Muslim Brotherhood outlawed after the army leb by Sissi toppled Egypt's
   first freely-elected civilian President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

   Al Jazeera has said that the accusations against the three journalists
   are absurd. Western governments and human rights groups have condemned
   the case, with the United Nations questioning Egypt's reputation and
   the independence of its judiciary.

   "The president issued a law on Wednesday allowing [him] to agree to
   surrender and transport non-Egyptian convicts and suspects to their
   countries to be tried or have their punishment implemented," the
   official news agency MENA said.

   "This decision comes in the framework of upholding the nation's
   interests and preserving Egypt's international image...," MENA quoted
   presidential spokesman Alaa Yousef as saying.

   The report did not mention the Al Jazeera journalists, but there are
   few other criminal cases involving foreigners in Egypt and none that
   have received as much international attention.

   Sissi said in July that he wished the imprisoned Al Jazeera journalists
   had been deported and not put on trial.

   He initially reacted to their sentencing by saying he would not
   interfere in court verdicts, but his subsequent comments suggested he
   might use his presidential power to pardon the journalists, who have an
   appeals hearing set for Jan. 1.

   The Gulf state of Qatar, which funds Al Jazeera, supports the
   Brotherhood. Its relations with Egypt have been strained since Morsi's
   ouster following mass protests against his troubled one-year rule.

   Sissi proceeded to crack down hard on Morsi's supporters in a campaign
   that has expanded to include secular and liberal activists, including
   some of the leading members of the 2011 popular uprising that ousted
   veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/egypt-president-decrees-law-on-repatr
   iating-foreign-prisoners/2518071.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/egypt-president-decrees-law-on-repatriating-foreign-prisoners/2518071.html