Al-Jazeera journalists' lawyers told to pay £100,000 to see key evidence

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/15/al-jazeera-journalists-lawyers-trial-court-egypt

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Lawyers defending three al-Jazeera journalists on trial in Egypt have been asked to pay more than £100,000 to access secret video evidence on which the prosecution's case depends, the court heard on Thursday.

In a separate development, it emerged that a fourth al-Jazeera journalist jailed in a second case has been sent to solitary confinement despite his health failing due to an ongoing 114-day hunger strike.

In the first case, the journalists' lawyers told the judge that prosecutors had demanded 1.2m Egyptian pounds (£100,500) to view five hours of unseen videos that the prosecution says will prove the defendants' guilt.

The lead defence lawyer, Khaled Abou Bakr, said the price should have been around 500 Egyptian pounds and refused to mount his defence before the price was lowered and he could view the footage that supposedly incriminated his clients.

Videos already shown in court have included footage of trotting horses, press conferences in Kenya and a documentary from Somalia.

When asked by the judge to respond, the lead prosecutor said he had not formally named any price in writing.

The three al-Jazeera English journalists – an Australian reporter, Peter Greste; the Canadian-Egyptian bureau chief, Mohamed Fahmy; and a local producer, Baher Mohamed – have been detained since December on charges of smearing Egypt's reputation, helping terrorists and doctoring footage.

They describe the charges as absurd and, in a court recess on Thursday, they also criticised the prosecution's decision to charge so much for the videos.

"The idea that our lawyers need to pay 1.2m [Egyptian] pounds to gain access to the videos is unbelievable," Fahmy, a former CNN journalist, told reporters from his cage. "How can they plan their defence?"

A fourth colleague – an al-Jazeera Arabic correspondent, Abdullah Elshamy – has separately been detained without charge since his arrest while reporting in Cairo last August.

After secretly recording a video in jail last week to highlight his deteriorating health, he was punished by being taken to solitary confinement.

"I was doing my job as a reporter and despite the authorities knowing this, I have been detained for 266 days without any charge and without committing any crime," Elshamy said in the video.

"I record this video after I have reached 106 days of my hunger strike to hold the Egyptian government, the Egyptian judiciary and the general prosecutor responsible."

Elshamy says his hunger strike has caused him to lose over a third of his body weight, while al-Jazeera says he is now suffering from kidney dysfunction.

In another development in his colleagues' chaotic court session, one of Greste's lawyers resigned from the case, claiming that al-Jazeera was using it for self-publicity.

In a recess, Greste told reporters he was "disappointed that [his lawyer] said what he did in court today".

The trial was adjourned until 22 May, and in the meantime the judge asked that the prosecution formally set a price for the lawyers to view the evidence.