Qatari regime controls Al Jazeera’s editorial line: Fahmy

CAIRO – 22 June 2017: Former Al-Jazeera English Channel, the Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy said on Thursday that Qatari government controls Al Jazeera’s general editorial line in the region.

He added in a press conference in Washington on what happened during his trial in Egypt and the Al-Jazeera’s editorial policy in the Arab region, that the channel was Al Jazeera English was operating illegally in Egypt.

“Only in the retrial in 2015 did my colleagues and I learn that even Al Jazeera English was operating illegally when the prosecutor submitted a report to that effect. Then my Egyptian lawyer interviewed a former Al Jazeera senior accountant,” he continued.
The 43-year-old journalist said that the channel breached its promise with the English staff and used their content for the Arabic channels including Al Jazeera Mubashir Mir although he got a prior permission from the managers to separate his work from the Arabic channel in Egypt.

Fahmy had spent more than a year in prison in Egypt where he was accused of ties to an alleged terrorist organization as well as reporting false news with the aim of spreading chaos. However, he was released in 201 per a presidential decree.