Kenya-based foreign journalists demonstrate against the imprisonment of three Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt, at the United Nations Environment program (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi, as a reception by Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry took place nearby on Tuesday. — Reuters NAIROBI — Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi could still pardon three jailed Al Jazeera journalists who are now facing a retrial if he deems it appropriate, the country's foreign minister said on Tuesday. Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy, Egyptian Baher Mohamed and Australian Peter Greste were sentenced last June to seven to 10 years for spreading lies to help a "terrorist organization" — a reference to Egypt's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Sisi said in November the issue of a presidential pardon was under discussion. Egypt's High Court ordered a retrial of the men on Jan. 1. Asked about a presidential pardon, Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri said: "All avenues are on the agenda in the context of the president's constitutional and legal rights." "So in principle that is also an avenue that might be pursued but that is the prerogative of the head of state when he deems it necessary or appropriate to do so," he told Reuters during a visit to the United Nations' Africa headquarters in Nairobi. He said the fate of the three, who include Greste, a Nairobi-based journalist who was detained on assignment in Cairo, now depended on the retrial process. About a dozen Kenya-based journalists staged a small protest against the jailings in front of the minister in the UN compound, taping their mouths shut to reflect their view that Egypt was stifling free speech. Rights groups and Western governments have criticized the detentions. Al Jazeera says the trial was flawed and has demanded their release. Shukri said a decision by the Doha-based channel to halt broadcasts last month of its Egypt-focused operation Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr, whose content angered Cairo, would help improve strained ties with Qatar. — Reuters
