Egypt: Al Jazeera journalist sues channel for £64mn for negligence over Cairo detention

An Al Jazeera journalist who is on retrial in Egypt is suing the channel for $100m (£64m) for alleged negligence and allegiance with blacklisted Islamists, said his lawyers on Monday (11 May).

Al Jazeera journalist, Mohamed Fahmy, along with his two other colleagues, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed, were arrested in December 2013 during a crackdown on supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohammed Morsi.

The journalists were sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison. However an appeals court later ordered a retrial citing lack of evidence to support the earlier verdict.

Fahmy's Canadian lawyer Joanna Gislason confirmed on 11 May that her client had filed a case against Al Jazeera in a Canadian court over "negligence", demanding "$100m for his detention and conviction," reported AFP News.

"Al-Jazeera Mubasher was a sponsor for the Muslim Brotherhood and its equipment was used by Muslim Brotherhood activists across the country," said Fahmy in a statement his lawyer read at a Cairo news conference.

"[Al-Jazeera Mubasher was] not just biased, but was a sponsor for the Muslim Brotherhood... Al-Jazeera is one of the foreign arms of Qatar."

Fahmy has also given up his Egyptian citizenship to qualify for deportation under a law that allows transfer of foreigners held on trial to their home countries.

One of the Al Jazeera journalists, Australian Peter Greste, has already been deported back to his native Australia after spending 400 days in prison.

Following Greste's release, Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott said: "As a former journalist myself, it would be remiss of me at such a gathering of journalists not to express my personal delight and our nation's relief at the overnight release of Peter Greste and to reiterate our support as a government and as a people for a free media and a free press."

Greste has said he will not rest until his colleagues, Fahmy and Mohamed, are also freed.