Al Jazeera journalists to face Egypt trial Egyptian prosecutors on Wednesday unveiled charges against international and local journalists working for the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera television station, accusing the correspondents and other employees of terror-related crimes in what many see as a broadening crackdown on dissent by Egypt's military-backed regime. The charges related to aiding the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. Five Jazeera journalists, Peter Greste, an Australian, Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, an Egyptian-Canadian and three Egyptians, Baher Mohamed, Abdullah Shami and Mohamed Bader, have been held in prison in Egypt for a month or more. According to an announcement issued by the judiciary, charges were levelled against a total of 20 unnamed Jazeera employees. The Egyptian defendants were accused of "crimes of belonging to a terrorist organisation, violating the law, calling for disrupting the law and preventing state institutions from conducting their affairs; assault on personal liberties of citizens and damaging national unity and social peace; using terrorism as a means to implement its purposes." The foreign defendants were charged with colluding with the Egyptian defendants "to agree upon and assist in supporting members of that group with funds, equipment, tools and information while being informed of the purposes of that group." According to the judiciary: "This was for the purpose of showing public opinion abroad that the country is undergoing civil war, to weaken the state's status, harming the national interest of the country, disturbing public security, instilling fear among the people." Al Jazeera has yet to comment on the statement. One legal expert said the charges could add up to years in prison for the defendants. "According to my experience and my legal expertise, these journalists could be released after being jailed for a few months because in this case, [there] is no tangible evidence of these charges," said Mohamed Moneeb, a Cairo defence attorney following the case. In case the court confirms the charges, the sentence will vary from one case to another . . . from paying a fine to up to 15 years in prison. The targeting of Al Jazeera and its employees is rooted in ongoing tensions between Egypt and Qatar, which owns the news outlet and is seen by the Cairo government as a backer of the Brotherhood. Cash-strapped Egypt recently agreed to return $6bn of $7.5bn in aid Qatar provided to the country during the Morsi government. The interim Egyptian government, nominally headed by Adli Mansour, a mild-mannered judge, but effectively run by the powerful Field marshal, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, has had numerous confrontations with governments it considers sympathetic to the Brotherhood, including Turkey and Libya. Last weekend, Egypt freed a visiting Libya militia leader it had arrested on undisclosed charges after his loyalists kidnapped five Egyptian diplomats in Tripoli in retaliation. It has also hounded Syrian opposition leaders perceived as sympathetic to Islamists. Political insiders describe a fight within the interim administration between reform-minded liberals seeking to forge a more tolerant political environment and more dominant security advocates eager to widen and tighten the crackdown on opponents. The charges against the journalists were unveiled amid what human rights and civil society activists are warning is a wave of nationalist fervour in Egypt, coupled with a growing crackdown on voices critical of, or opposed to, the military-backed interim government and its allies in the judiciary and security forces. In a January 23 report entitled "Roadmap to Repression," Amnesty International, the human rights group, warned of unprecedented violence and repression since the 2013 coup that overthrew Mr Morsi's Brotherhood-dominated government. The report concluded: "Amnesty International is concerned that the Egyptian authorities are utilising all branches of the state apparatus to trample on human rights and quash dissent, armed with repressive legislation, including the latest assembly law; unaccountable security forces ready to implement it against political opponents; and a complacent judicial system that punishes critics while allowing perpetrators of human rights violations to walk free."