Cameraman: Al Jazeera betrayed us on illegal working status in Egypt

CAIRO – 22 June 2017: Former Al-Jazeera Cameraman Mohamed Fawzy said that he reached evidence that the Qatari network “lied and betrayed” him over the illegal status while working in Egypt, during a Thursday press conference in Washington.

“We confirmed with evidence that Al-Jazeera was lying to us and betrayed us, while knowing that our work in Egypt was illegal, Fawzy said during a joint conference along with other former journalists aimed at revealing Doha’s foreign agenda in the region.

Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy, and former Journalist for Al-Jazeera, has also made statements accusing the Qatari channel of sponsoring terrorist groups.

In 2015, Fahmy along with Egyptian Journalist Baher Mohamed and Australian Peter Greste were sentenced in Egypt to three years in prison in 2015 over spreading false news and operating in Egypt without license. Fahmy and Baher were later pardoned by the president, while Greste was deported to his country ahead of the final verdict.

The Al-Jazeera Network coverage of Egypt has been repeatedly slammed by the government over backing the former ruling of the ousted President Mohamed Morsi and the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group. Its offices were closed in the country and the channel was blocked.

He continued, “I had asked the administration of Al-Jazeera to transfer me to work in Washington to avoid the risks of traveling in the Middle East; and I was surprised when I arrived in Washington that the channel did not complete my official papers and authorization to work legally.”