A Canadian-Egyptian journalist, who is facing trial in Egypt over charges that he aided the Muslim Brotherhood, is reportedly suing his previous employer Al Jazeera, seeking 100 million dollars in compensation, for negligence.
Mohamed Fahmy was had been detained in a Cairo prison for over 400 days for aiding the Brotherhood, which is considered a terrorist outfit by the Egyptian government. He has in his lawsuit that Al Jazeera's actions directly led to his incarceration, reported The Independent.
The former Al Jazeera English acting bureau chief in Egypt said that the network put him and his colleagues at risk, after a local affiliate gave station equipment to Muslim Brotherhood members and used the subsequent footage without alerting Fahmy's staff.
The former Al Jazeera journalist said at a press conference, "Now, I will sue them at any cost, and I will win. He added that they don't seem to understand the fact that they cannot continue to challenge the sovereignty of governments, accord more importance to stories than the safety of their employees, and assume that they will continue to get away with it.
Fahmy and fellow Al Jazeera journalists Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste were previously sentenced to serve seven to 10 years in prison. All the three of them denied the allegations. While Greste was freed earlier this year, Fahmy and Mohamed were in custody until a court ordered a retrial for the two in January, citing procedural flaws. The two have now been released on bail ahead of their trial.
