Fiach MacConghail (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support Senators Bacik and Ó Murchú in regretting the passing of Gerry Conlon. It was a very tragic life in tragic circumstances for a man who was innocent.
I support my colleague, Senator Whelan, regarding the al-Jazeera journalists who are jailed in Egypt. It is an extraordinary visual experience to watch the journalists in the BBC protesting with a minute of silence, with their mouths taped over and the white cross on the cameras. The future of the three al-Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt looks bleaker following President Abdel el-Sisi's refusal of a pardon, ignoring pleas from President Barack Obama, among others, to release them and other prisoners. I raise this in support of Senator Whelan and other journalists. It is a violation of the right to freedom of expression and must be condemned. The Australian, Peter Greste, the Canadian-Egyptian, Mohamed Fahmy, and the Egyptian, Baher Mohamed, along with four students and activists, were jailed yesterday for between seven and ten years for endangering Egypt's national security. Two British al-Jazeera journalists and a Dutch freelance journalist were sentenced in absentiato a decade in jail, despite the prosecution failing to produce a single shred of solid evidence, according to trial observers Amnesty International. I call on the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to condemn the abuse of human rights in Egypt and to work with the governments of EU member states to oppose the criminalisation of journalists.