Mohamed Fahmy, speaking at his family’s Cairo home on Friday, expressed displeasure with Ottawa’s handling of his case.Amir Makar/The Globe and Mail
An Egyptian court postponed proceedings in the retrial of two Al Jazeera English journalists after key prosecution witnesses failed to appear at a session where they had been slated for cross-examination on Sunday.
Defence lawyers for Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed had expected on Sunday to cross-examine the security officers whose testimony is central to the prosecution's case against the journalists.
"It's unprecedented legal limbo," Mr. Fahmy told journalists after he emerged from the the courtroom inside Cairo's Tora Prison complex. This is the second time the prosecution's witnesses have failed to attend the retrial, the latest in a prolonged judicial ordeal for the two journalists as well as five students and an NGO worker swept up in the same case.
"We come here and we respect the court. It's very unusual that the witnesses don't come twice in a row. I see it as an insult to the judiciary here," Mr. Fahmy said.
Judge Hassan Farid demanded that the missing officers attend the next session of the trial "even if I have to arrest them." He also fined two of the witnesses the equivalent of $80. A note of exasperation in his voice, the judge adjourned the trial until March 19, after a session lasting less than 15 minutes.
The Canadian government said on Sunday that Ottawa would continue to call for Mr. Fahmy's immediate release.
"The prospect of Mr. Fahmy continuing to stand retrial is unacceptable, and Canada advocates for the same treatment of Mr. Fahmy as other foreign nationals have received," Lynne Yelich, minister of state for consular affairs, said in an e-mailed statement.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Yelich would not say whether the minister had reached out to Cairo again on Sunday.
Mr. Fahmy, Mr. Mohamed, and Australian journalist Peter Greste were arrested in December, 2013, and imprisoned for more than 400 days. The three were charged with broadcasting "false news" and collaborating with the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt has branded a terrorist organization.
Mr. Fahmy and Mr. Greste were sentenced to seven years in prison in an initial trial, while Mr. Mohamed was given a 10-year sentence.
Mr. Greste was deported to Australia in February, while his colleagues were released awaiting a retrial in the case ordered by Egypt's highest appeals court. Mr. Fahmy also gave up his Egyptian citizenship expecting that he too would be deported under a presidential decree allowing jailed foreign nationals to be expelled. But the expected deportation never came.
"It's really disappointing," Mr. Mohamed said Sunday of the witnesses' failure to appear in court. "We need to get our full freedom back. We need to clear our names as early as possible because we didn't do anything wrong."
Despite being released on bail, Mr. Fahmy and Mr. Mohamed face an ongoing and unpredictable legal battle. Both are required to check in every day at a police station and both are barred from leaving the country. During Sunday's hearing, the pair were required to watch from a metal and glass cage that makes it impossible to hear their words or see them clearly.
"Every time I come to the court I get worried that the judge might change his mind," said Mr. Fahmy's fiancée, Marwa Omara, in an interview before the hearing. "I learned not to get my hopes up and to expect the worst."
Since they were released from prison, neither journalist has been able to retrieve his original identification papers, a matter raised by Mr. Fahmy's lawyer at Sunday's hearing. The Canadian embassy in Cairo has not yet issued Mr. Fahmy a new passport, a fact that limits his ability to travel even within Egypt.
"We cannot get married, we cannot rent a flat. Every time we walk in the street, we're scared … at any checkpoint," Ms. Omara said following the hearing.
Ottawa has faced significant pressure over Mr. Fahmy's detention and retrial, including calls for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to intervene. Mr. Harper held a phone call with Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Feb. 26 to discuss the case, but neither Cairo nor Ottawa has commented publicly on what was discussed.
However, two days after the phone call, Mr. el-Sissi suggested in an interview that he would use his presidential powers to pardon the Al Jazeera journalists once the retrial has concluded, according to an Egyptian newspaper.