Egypt once more has managed to get itself into troubled water. On 29 December 2013 it arrested three journalists from the TV channel Al Jazeera English in their hotel room in Cairo.
The journalists, award-winning Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy, who is the bureau chief of Al Jazeera English in Cairo and has worked for CNN and the New York Times, award-winning reporter Peter Greste, an Australian formerly working for the BBC, and the Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed have been held in the notorious Tora prison ever since with both Fahmy and Mohamed subjected to solitary confinement under harshest conditions for weeks.
Only a few days ago were they moved to another ward and now share a cell with their Australian colleague. Fahmy, who suffered a broken shoulder during the arrest in December, has been denied any medical treatment and is yet to see a doctor. Instead, he is being forced to sleep blanketless on the concrete floor. His family filed another request after he was moved, but so far the authorities have not reacted.
