The Egyptian-Canadian journalist sentenced to seven years in a Cairo jail marked 200 days of imprisonment handcuffed to a hospital bed, his brother says.
Mohamed Fahmy is finally receiving medical care for an arm injury, but he is restrained and surrounded by guards in the hospital, his brother Sherif Fahmy told 麻豆影视 Channel Wednesday.
Still, 鈥渉e鈥檚 happy that he鈥檚 finally receiving some medical attention,鈥� his brother said.
He said Fahmy 鈥済ets extremely emotional鈥� whenever his family tells him about the support he鈥檚 been getting since he was jailed, along with two Al-Jazeera colleagues.
Fahmy, 40, was working in Cairo as a bureau chief for the international broadcaster when he and two others were arrested in late December. They were accused of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, which the current Egyptian government considers a terrorist group.
Fahmy and his colleagues have denied all allegations against them, and said they were simply doing their jobs in Egypt.
But following a widely denounced trial, Fahmy was sentenced to seven years in prison on terrorism-related charges.
Fahmy鈥檚 supporters have criticized the Canadian government鈥檚 response, saying officials should be applying more pressure on Egyptian authorities to release him. Some have speculated that Fahmy鈥檚 dual citizenship makes him less of a priority in Ottawa.
鈥淲e, as a family, think very highly of our country, Canada, and do not want to believe that there are double standards,鈥� Sherif Fahmy said Wednesday.
鈥淏ut what we know for a fact is that there were Canadian citizens also detained unjustly in an Egyptian prison last summer and the government鈥檚 response was completely different to what we have seen in my brother鈥檚 case.鈥�
A spokesperson for Canada鈥檚 Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said this week that the minister raised Fahmy鈥檚 case during a phone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, about the situation in Gaza.
The spokesperson declined to provide details about that discussion, but Baird has said that he doesn't believe "bullhorn diplomacy" will help win Fahmy's release.
Fahmy's family is working on taking the case to an appeal court. In the meantime, his brother says support from Canadians and people around the world is 鈥渆xtremely important.鈥�
鈥淚 believe that Mohammed and his colleagues are living on this kind of support,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey are actually surviving because of this support.鈥�
With files from The Canadian Press
