Even Weirder Evidence Surfaces as Egypt Al Jazeera Trial Edges Towards Verdict

The trial of three Al Jazeera journalists in Egypt edged closer to a final verdict today during a hearing in which defendants accused their prosecutors of massive inefficiencies and introducing questionable evidence.

Lawyers making a case against the trio presented a series of images, video, and audio clips without context as evidence of the defendants’ guilt, including material from other news networks. The trial has now been adjourned until June 1.

At one point, evidence presented against Australian Al Jazeera English reporter Peter Greste included a tinny recording of the Gotye hit song “Somebody That I Used To Know” seemingly taken from a phone belonging to one of his colleagues.

During a break in proceedings, Greste shouted to reporters from the cage where he and his co-defendants are held during the trial that the content of the phone was in Arabic, which he does not speak, and that the mislabeling of the phone casts doubt on the entire case against him.

“The integrity of my evidence is being corrupted,” he said.

Al Jazeera's $150M suit against Egypt could jeopardize journalists' trial. Read more here.

The three Al Jazeera English employees — Greste, Canadian-Egyptian Cairo Bureau Chief Mohammed Fahmy, and local producer Baher Mohammed — are on trial for charges including altering video footage, smearing Egypt’s reputation, and aiding a terrorist organization. The latter refers to deposed President Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which was outlawed on Christmas Day 2013. The three have been held since December when they were arrested in a hotel room, which was being used as a temporary Al Jazeera English bureau.

Fahmy added that the defendants' legal team was struggling to do its job in the face of bureaucracy, mismanagement, and an unhelpful judicial system.

”Our lawyers face huge obstacles and inefficiencies," he said.

Greste, Fahmy, and Mohamed are being tried alongside five Egyptian students who were arrested separately and are also accused of links with the Muslim Brotherhood. The connection between the two groups is unclear.

Fahmy insisted that the two groups should not be tried together.

“We don’t have any relation to what is being said here… We have no relations with the students,” he said during proceedings, after a recording purported to be of the students talking was played.

He reiterated the point later while speaking with reporters. "This is separate, we are separate. We are professional journalists, not activists,” he said.

Even aside from the Gotye song, the footage was a bizarre mix. As it was presented without comment by the prosecution, it was not always clear how it was supposed to incriminate the accused.

Incredulous laughter came from members of the press inside the courtroom when an audio clip played began with the phrase “this is a news download from the BBC.” Another featured a garbled recording of a voice telling jokes, then singing.

Videos shown included 2012 footage of secular politicians criticizing Morsi’s planned constitution, and a report made by Voice of America.

Al Jazeera content was shown too. Some footage was of routine interviews with Islamists. Other pieces of footage, however, were reports on sheep farming and football. Greste interjected after the last two were aired to point out to the aviator-wearing judge that the footage actually counters accusations that the trio had been portraying Egypt as descending into a civil war.

“I tried to show that Egypt is moving ahead peacefully," he said afterwards.

Films that Mohammed had been involved in were shown too, including a piece on an Egyptian charity.

“I’m proud of them,” he said in response to a question from VICE News. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

It is not the first time that the prosecution’s case has been of questionable relevance. Previous evidence introduced against the defendants has included audio recordings so muffled that even the judge admitted he couldn’t understand them, and video footage of trotting donkeys and horses from a Sky News Arabia program about animal hospitals.

Even having the footage aired was a relief, however. In the last session, held May 15, the prosecution told defense lawyers that they must pay EGP 1.2 million ($170,000) to see the evidence it planned to use against the journalists.

The Al Jazeera defendants seemed to be in good spirits, smiling and joking in interactions with journalists and their family members in the courtroom. All were frustrated at the slow pace of the trial. Greste's brother Andrew told VICE News before the hearing that Peter was “ok but frustrated, eternally frustrated at the speed of everything.“

The trio said that they had access to books and newspapers, so were able to keep up with current events.

“Your articles keep us going, we know we’re not forgotten,” Fahmy said to the assembled journalists.

He added however that a specialist recently told him he would require an operation to correct a shoulder injury he sustained prior to his arrest.

“I’m very angry about my arm. Why did the prosecutor not put me in the hospital?” he shouted from the cage.

Despite the seeming flimsiness of the prosecution’s case, many Egyptians do see Al Jazeera as having worked to undermine their country. This is partly a result of the perception that Qatar backs Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood because the tiny Gulf state pumped billions of dollars into government coffers while he was in power. There is also a broad perception that the network’s coverage of the new military-backed government was overtly negative.

An Egyptian administrative court banned Al Jazeera’s Egyptian channel Mubasher Misr, along with three other channels, on those grounds in September 2013.

Fahmy stressed that it was important that the judge realize Mubasher Misr and Al Jazeera English were separate entities.

“We had different buildings, different management, different people, we didn’t ever share content…” he said. “There was not a single piece of cooperation with Mubasher at any level.”

Abdullah Elshamy, an Al Jazeera Arabic journalist, is also currently behind bars in Egypt. He has been held without charge since August 2013 and been on hunger strike since mid-January. Since then he has lost a third of his body weight and his health is failing badly, according to his doctor and lawyer. He is currently being held at an undisclosed location, and his family and legal team are now demanding immediate access to him after pictures of him seemingly breaking his strike were posted to a Facebook page linked with the Egyptian police.

The reporter on hunger strike in an Egyptian prison might slip into a coma. Read more here.

Follow John Beck on Twitter: @JM_Beck