Al Jazeera's show trial

To get straight to the point: The trial against the journalists of international news broadcaster Al Jazeera has been a political show trial which is a mockery of the rule of law. How else to explain that the judges in Cairo could ignore the obviously manipulated indictment and the hair-raising procedural violations without any concerns?

In the trial, for example, ordinary, journalistically-produced videos were cited as alleged evidence for "the support of a terrorist organization."

Anyway: Whoever followed the trial against Australian Al Jazeera correspondent Peter Greste, the Canadian-Egyptian office manager Mohammed Fahmy and Egyptian editor Baher Mohammed, could not help thinking that the judges weren't concerned whether the prosecution's "evidence" was legally usable or not. Everything indicates that the harsh verdicts had been meted out before trial began.

The politically motivated verdicts are part of the new regime's witch hunt against the Muslim Brotherhood. Recently, Egypt's new strongman, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, has made no secret of the fact that he wants to "erase" the country's largest and most deeply-ingrained opposition. Since Al Jazeera is just about the only influential broadcaster that reports on the Brotherhood's view of the events in Egypt, it is seen by the new rulers as a "mouthpiece of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood."

In December 2013, the Brotherhood was declared a "terrorist organization" and banned. Additionally, hundreds of alleged supporters were sentenced to death for alleged joint murder. Then the former proud justice has been used as revenge tool of the powerful elite of military and oligarchy.

Criminalization of critical journalism

Because Al Jazeera reporters have maintained contacts with representatives of the Brotherhood, Egypt's justice system views the journalists as "supporters of the Brotherhood." As a result, any journalist with Brotherhood contacts can be indicted.

The show trial has thrown a dark light on the human rights situation in the new Egypt. At this point, more than 41,000 people have been arrested since the overthrow of the Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

The court's proceedings show that the new regime wants to make an example of Al Jazeera. It aims for total control of the media and sovereignty over the interpretation in the political debate in the country. Security forces also want to control social media. Apparently, all critics are to be muzzled. Anyone who questions the rulers' outlook can expect harsh and repressive measures.

For this reason, the verdict has to be viewed as a clear warning for all local and international journalists to comply with the rules of the el-Sissi regime.