Mohamed Fahmy, imprisoned in Egypt, is suffering from hepatitis C and an injured shoulder, his brother says.
The family of jailed Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy is launching a crowd-funding campaign to cover his legal fees, saying they have given up hope that Egypt's president will issue a pardon.
Mr. Fahmy was arrested in Cairo last December on charges of conspiring with the banned Muslim Brotherhood to spread false news. The former Cairo bureau chief for Al Jazeera English, who has dual Canadian and Egyptian citizenship, was convicted earlier this year and sentenced to seven years in prison.
Two of his colleagues, Australian journalist Peter Greste and Egyptian producer Baher Mohammed, were also convicted after a trial that was widely condemned by human rights groups.
Mr. Fahmy's family held out hope for months that Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi might issue a pardon in the case, amid international pressure to release the three journalists. But in a letter to reporters on Thursday, they said they recognize a pardon will not be coming and will concentrate instead on a legal appeal filed earlier this fall.
"We have all learned to manage our expectations in this exhausting legal battle," the letter says. "Today, we accepted the reality that [Mr. el-Sissi] will not issue a pardon."
Mr. Fahmy's brother, Adel Fahmy, said his family is hoping to raise $350,000 to help fund the appeal. The figure is an estimate of how much it could cost to cover all of Mr. Fahmy's legal fees, including additional expenses such as paying the prosecution to obtain evidence used against Mr. Fahmy at the trial earlier this year. "We're contemplating everything they will throw at us, so this covers every possible legal, financial requirement," Adel Fahmy said.
He said Al Jazeera has offered a team of lawyers for Mr. Fahmy and his colleagues but the family has chosen to hire someone with a stronger background in handling complex political cases as they pursue the appeal. If it succeeds, Mr. Fahmy would have a retrial.
Last month, Mr. Fahmy's family asked for a temporary health release to treat a Hepatitis C infection and a lingering shoulder injury. They have not yet received a response to that request, Adel Fahmy said.
"He's still very down, he's very worried," Adel Fahmy said of his brother. "No one ever expected it would become so complicated and would drag on as much as it has. You know, he's still very disappointed and just anxiously, like his family, looking forward to what will happen on the appeal, and how it will unfold."
Adel Fahmy said he was disappointed that Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not take an opportunity to raise the case with Mr. el-Sissi, Egypt's president, during the United Nations General Assembly last month. "We were very shocked by that. We thought that this would be, you know, an opportunity to really open up this subject with the Egyptian president. So we don't know what efforts are being exerted right now," he said.
Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird, discussed Mr. Fahmy's case during a bilateral meeting with Egypt's foreign minister at the UN, but Adel Fahmy said he would have preferred to see the issue raised at a higher level.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister said the case continues to be raised "at a senior level" but declined to comment further.