Peter Greste (40) is a free man after four hundred days in an Egytian prison. He is resting up in Cyprus and enjoying pork and beer, neither of which was customary fare in an Islamic country. He can expect world attention when he returns to Australia and recounts his story to a wide audience.
Journalism has become a dangerous occupation in our divided world. Greste worked for Al Jazeera, a television network based in Doha and his arrest on trumped up charges reflects the religious divide that sets Sunni and Shia at each others throats in the volatile Middle East. Doha and Egypt support opposite sides of this spectrum and Greste was accused of "spreading false information and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood ", which is banned in Egypt.
The fact that Greste holds Australian citizenship brought the full force of the Australian government's diplomatic service to pressure Egypt for his release, and because he is a world famous award winning journalist this was supported by other world leaders, including Barack Obama. A trio of Al Jazeera employees were part of the arrests, trials and sentencing and while Greste is now free, Mohamed Fahmy, who holds joint Canadian/Egyptian nationality, and Baher Mohamed - an Egyptian - remain in prison.
It seems likely that Mohamed Fahmy will soon gain freedom because the release of Greste was under a rather opaque protocol that simply calls for those with foreign nationality to be expelled from the country rather than held in prison. The problem is that Baher Mohamed lacks that protection. As an Egyptian citizen, it is likely that he will remain in prison to serve the balance of his ten year sentence.
When demand for the release of these prisoners was a daily news item on Al Jazeera and protest groups were active across the world it was Peter Greste's name at the forefront. It would be a tragedy if Egypt releases the two foreigners in it's prison and leaves the Egyptian to rot for a further number of years - and the world forgets him !
No doubt Peter Greste will use his talents to keep that issue alive and Al Jazeera can be expected to maintain the demand in it's daily news sessions, but it was surely the intense lobbying and condemnation from a range of world leaders that brought unbearable pressure on the Egyptian president to move on this matter. In the interests of justice, this mans release should not be allowed to go on the back burner.
The arrest of journalists for simply doing their job and presenting the news must raise the question of what protection their country of origin can provide. Australian journalists accredited to news sources such as the ABC gather news in an official capacity and it would not be unreasonable for them to travel overseas under diplomatic cover. There is a vast difference in the protocols that apply between the holder of a diplomatic passport and the passport issued to ordinary Australian citizens.
Peter Greste was working for the news service of a foreign country and as such he would not be entitled to this form of Australian protection, but it could be argued that Doha was sending him into a danger zone which could require the cover of that country's diplomatic immunity.
It would probably be unwise to issue diplomatic cover widely to journalists, but if the practice of arresting journalists as a means of shutting down the news to suit the interests of the parties in power becomes common - and it is certainly increasing in much of the world - then at least an official foreign correspondent needs that cover.
A lot will depend on what happens now to Baher Mohamond ?
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