Two Al Jazeera staffers, Peter Greste and Mohamed Fahmy, were given seven years in prison, while producer Baher Mohamed received 10 years; 11 co-defendants, tried in absentia, received 10-year terms each BBC staff held a one-minute silent protest on Tuesday in front of London's New Broadcasting House over Egypt's sentencing of Al Jazeera reporters from 7 to 10 years in jail, a statement on the BBC website read. Two Al Jazeera journalists, Australian Peter Greste and Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy, were sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of "spreading false news," falsely portraying Egypt as being in a state of "civil war," as well as aiding or joining the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, while Al Jazeera producer Baher Mohamed was handed two jail terms amounting to 10 years. Eleven co-defendants, tried in absentia on similar charges, received 10-year terms each, while two others were acquitted. Greste, described by the BBC as "one of Australia's most high-profile foreign correspondents", used to work at the British news outlet. Speaking to the protesting crowd of BBC staff, along with journalists from other institutions, BBC Director of News James Harding described the case as "unjust". He said the BBC and other news organisations would be submitting a letter to Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi asking him to redress "this injustice". Harding also said journalists around the world "have to stand together" in support of reporters being imprisoned for simply doing their job. The verdict received worldwide condemnation. US Secretary of State John Kerry described the sentences as "chilling and draconian", while UN human rights chief Navi Pillay accused Egypt of "crushing the media". http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/104717.aspx
