We Canadians Should Stand Up For Fahmy, Even If Our Government Won’t

A Note from Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper

“We are free. … Egypt is free,” cheered countless tens-of-thousands of mostly young Egyptians in the streets of Cairo just four years ago – in February of 2011 – when the country’s corrupt, autocratic strongman Hosni Mobarak was finally forced from power by what looked to the world to be a peaceful uprising of the people.

The jubilation was shared by a large group of Niagara residents, some of them of Egyptian descent, rallied on the front steps of city hall in St. Catharines, Ontario for a new dawn of freedom and democracy in the land of ancient kings and pyramids – the “cradle of civilization” as it has come to be called.

Another Canadian of Egyptian descent, Mohamed Fahmy, who covered the uprising for CNN and joined in the celebration when Mobarak stepped down, went on to write a book titled ‘Egyptian Freedom Story.”

So much for any hope of a free and democratic though. Just as a number of governance experts many of us did not want to listen to at the time warned – ‘this George W. Bush notion that you can just take a country that has had a long history of blood-letting totalitarian and transform it into a democracy overnight is fairy tale. It is more realistic to ask the question – ‘If we get rid of the dictator behind door number one, what will we find behind door number two.’

In the case of Egypt and its beleaguered people, what was behind door number two – Mohamd Horsi and his Muslim Brotherhood – has turned out to be just as corrupt and brutal, if not more so, than the scoundrel who was thrown out. And to underscore that dark reality, we had the conviction this August 29^th of three journalists, including Mohamed Fahmy, Egyptian Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste (the later who his country, Australia, managed to get deported back home a while back) to three years in jail on bogus charges of “aiding a terrorist group.”

Following the conviction, Fahmy’s lawyers and other supporters went immediately to work, trying to convince whatever constitutes a legitimate government in Egypt to grant their client a pardon or at least deport him back to Canada.

Federal Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau, in a statement he made hours after the conviction, said; “Mohamed Fahmy has been outrageously sentenced to three years in an Egyptian prison as a result of an arbitrary and unjust process. Stephen Harper must call Egyptian President el-Sisi directly and demand the immediate return of Mr. Fahmy to Canada.”

“The fact that Mr. Fahmy remains imprisoned is completely unacceptable,” added Trudeau. “Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot spoke with President el-Sisi on three occasions to secure the release of Australian citizen Peter Greste. Harper has failed to address Mr. Fahmy’s case with the same urgency and skill.”

And federal NDP Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar said; “Prime Minister Stephen Harper must take a break from electioneering and speak directly with Egyptian President al-Sisi on behalf of Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy to seek a personal guarantee that Mr. Fahmy will be pardoned and returned to Canada immediately.”

Yet not a public work as of this posting (and even if he speaks out now, why so slow, slow, slow on the draw?) from a prime minister who so wants portray himself as a dynamic leader on the world stage.

If this was an American journalist being treated this way, I could see President Barack Obama out there in the Rose Garden within a few hours, telling Egypt to let him go or face punitive actions from the United States.

It seems Harper is too busy trying to convince Canadians that one quarter of surplus budget numbers earlier this year means we shouldn’t sweat a chronically high jobless rate, a rapidly sinking dollar and several months of negative growth that spell recession.

And there may be some other factors at play here. It is widely known in Ottawa circles that Harper has a white-hot hate for the news media in general most recently Fahmy was reporting for Al Jazeera, an Arab news organization accused by Israel and its many Western allies of having a pro-Arab and anti-Semitic bias.

Harper and his government have never demonstrated much of a like for Arabs anyway, unless they happen to be members of the Egyptian government, which they reached a trade agreement with around the same time Fahmy was first arrested two years ago, or they happen to be Saudis, who Harper is now pushing to broker a major deal to sell Canadian manufactured weapons to.

Imagine that – selling weapons to a country that spawned Osama bin Laden and a majority of those terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attacks.

By the way, according to a Government of Canada post that went online two years ago, “the Canada-Egypt bilateral relationship is a mutually respectful and beneficial partnership, founded on a common interest in peace, stability and security in the Middle East, development cooperation, cross-cultural understanding and growing trade relations.”

So where does the mutual respect and peace and security come in.

Harper did at long last make one call to the Egyptian president to express concern for Fahmy’s welfare earlier on in his deal, but only after a great deal of outcry and pressure from everyday Canadian citizens and activist groups like Amnesty International and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.

In an interview Tom Henheffer, president of the journalists organization, did with the CBC in the hours following Fahmy’s August 29^th conviction, he said “it was a nightmare trying to get the Canadian government to move” before Harper finally made the call.

Earlier today, John Casson, Britain’s ambassador to Egypt, had the courage to public express his country’s outrage at the convictions. For that, Casson was summoned to meeting with Egyptian higher ups who accused him of “unacceptable interference” in their country’s affairs.

If Harper was any kind of leader for Canadians who are wrongly punished abroad, he would get up before the eyes of the world and engage in some interference that has real teach to it.

What he should have done as soon as he learned of the convictions is stand up at a podium and let Canadians know his next call will be to the Egyptian president when he will tell him he has two options – Pardon Mohamed Fahmy immediately and let him come home to Canada or see your Ottawa embassy closed and its ambassador and staff deported, and watch Canada move to end all trade with Egypt and encourage other Western democracies to do the same.

The fact that Harper hasn’t taken steps like this already is an affront to the safety and security of all Canadians travelling and serving abroad.

To let the Prime Minister of Canada’s Office know what you think, click on – http://pm.gc.ca/eng/connect .

Let Egyptian Embassy in Canada know what you think by clicking on – http://www.embassypages.com/missions/embassy8503/ .

For the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression click on

https://cjfe.org/resources/media_releases/cjfe-condemns-conviction-journalists-mohamed-fahmy-baher-mohamed-and-peter- .

For related stories, click on the following links-

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/30/al-jazeera-convictions-egypt-summons-uk-ambassador .

https://niagaraatlarge.com/2011/02/11/niagara-joins-the-world-in-celebrating-egypt%E2%80%99s-crusade-for-democracy-and-freedom/ .

https://niagaraatlarge.com/2011/02/01/canadian-government-called-on-to-support-egyptian-people/ .

Visit Niagara At Large at www.niagaraatlarge.com for more views and commentary on a host of issues and items of interest and concern.

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