Mohamed Fahmy
Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy was sentenced to seven years in jail. Reuters

Mohamed Fahmy, the Egyptian-Canadian correspondent serving as Al-Jazeera’s Cairo bureau chief, was sentenced to seven years in prison by an Egyptian court on Monday.

According to the Guardian, Fahmy could no longer use his right arm due to a shoulder injury prior to being detained. At the sentencing, Fahmy said he was denied medical treatment and could move his arm only a few inches. He also asked for more time with his lawyer and more than one hour outside of his cell.

Fahmy, along with Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed, was arrested Dec. 29 and charged with creating fake news reports. Fahmy and Greste got 7-year sentences while Mohamed was sentenced to 10 years for being in possession of ammunition.

When the sentences were announced, Fahmy shouted, “I swear they will pay for this,” reports the Associated Press.

Fahmy’s Twitter account has continued to tweet updates on the journalist and the trial. Fahmy previously worked as a CNN producer in Egypt and as a senior producer with Alhurra television. He has authored two books, the first being “Baghdad Bound: An Interpreter’s Chronicles of the Iraq War,” published in 2006.

According to the BBC, Fahmy also has reported for the New York Times and published “Egyptian Freedom Story” in 2011. He won the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom award in 2014. The Canadian Journalists for Free Expression described Fahmy as a “passionate journalist and advocate of press freedom who is facing retribution and censorship for exercising his right to free expression.”

On a post on his blog on May 2, Fahmy writes, "To silence me and my colleagues on the pretext that we are a threat to national security and members of a terrorist organization is a sheer insult to the intelligence of Egyptian people and the democracy promoted in the newly ratified constitution." Fahmy also writes about press freedom, prison conditions and thanks the Canadian government and colleagues for their support.

A video of Fahmy's work, courtesy of his family, can be viewed below.

Egypt