Canada urges 'expeditious' Egypt trial for Jazeera reporter

Canada has called for a "fair and expeditious" trial for a detained Canadian-Egyptian journalist, whose bail plea has been rejected by an Egyptian court.
Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy is on trial with two other detained journalists from the Doha-based Al-Jazeera English for alleged links to the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood movement.
"We made a request with respect to this individual getting a fair and expeditious trial and requested that humanitarian and medical needs be addressed," Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird told a Cairo new conference yesterday.
Fahmy, who was the network's Cairo bureau chief, and his colleagues have been in detention for more than 100 days and during the trial he has pleaded for his release.

He has also complained of a shoulder injury he received before his arrest in December.
Baird said Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy had assured him of a fair trial.

The court is being "transparent and fair", the Egyptian foreign minister told the same news conference, adding that the journalist was being given medical treatment.
The Al-Jazeera trial, in which a total of 20 defendants stand accused, including Peabody Award-winning Australian journalist Peter Greste, has sparked an international outcry and fuelled fears of a media crackdown by the military-installed authorities.
The journalists are accused of spreading false news and supporting the Islamist movement of deposed president Mohamed Morsi.

Prosecutors insist that the Al-Jazeera journalists colluded with the Brotherhood, now designated a "terrorist" group, and falsely sought to portray Egypt in a state of "civil war".
Al-Jazeera English says the allegations against the reporters are absurd.
The Brotherhood is target of a brutal crackdown since Morsi was ousted by the army in July.
More than 1,400 people, mostly Islamist supporters of Morsi, have been killed in the crackdown since July and thousands more arrested.