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Alert

Court disregards defence's request for witnesses in trial of Al-Jazeera journalist

(HRinfo/IFEX) - On 7 March 2007, the Nozha Misdemeanour Court held the third hearing on the case against Howayda Taha, a producer with Al-Jazeera television.

The court viewed different parts of the videotapes that the public prosecutor claimed contain scenes that "destroy the reputation of the Egyptian government". In addition, the court listened to and discussed witnesses presented by the State Security Prosecutor. However, the court refused to implement any of the 11 requests presented by the defence team, which consists of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, Hesham Mubarak Law Centre, and the Freedom for Political Rights and Support of Democracy Centre. The defence teams rejected requests were mainly to call forward additional witnesses. The judge postponed the hearing to 28 March 2007 for the defence to prepare its statement.

The three human rights organisations on the defence team announced their fears that standards for a just trial would not be respected in this case. Without the witnesses requested by the defence team, it would be difficult for them to prepare a strong defence based on the testimony of witnesses and experts, whose statements might change the outcome of the case. In addition, the court refused to watch the videotapes in their unedited entirety to ascertain whether they had content that undermines the country's reputation.

The defence team also requested the return of the investigative judge, since the State Security Prosecutor in this case comes from an institution that is known to impose restrictions on basic liberties in Egypt.