The trial of the Australian journalist Peter Greste and two of his al-Jazeera colleagues has again descended into farce, as defence lawyers of two of the men quit in court, accusing the broadcaster of putting its “vendetta” against Egypt ahead of the freedom of its employees.
The Egyptian prosecution was also accused of making outrageous financial demands of the defence team to give them access to evidence.
Australian correspondent Peter Greste, Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed and Canadian-Egyptian acting bureau chief Mohammed Fahmy are on trial in Egypt, accused of doctoring footage, aiding terrorism and conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood to damage the country’s reputation. They have been detained since December.
The lead defence lawyer, Farag Fathy, stood up in court on Thursday and announced he and two colleagues representing Greste and Mohamed would no longer represent the reporters.
“Al-Jazeera is using my clients. I have emails from [the channel] telling me they don’t care about the defendants and care about insulting Egypt,” he told the court.
Fathy said the network was using the case for self-promotion and endangering the reporters’ chances for freedom by pursuing the Egyptian government in civil litigation. He also accused al-Jazeera of “fabricating quotes” attributed to him.
The declaration came as a shock to the detained journalists. Greste later told reporters from the dock that he was “baffled”. “This is the first time we have heard of this problem,” he said.
Fahmy reportedly shouted: “What the lawyer did makes us look bad! We are very angry with the way this is unfolding!”
Al-Jazeera disputed Fathy’s accusations. “The lawyer who made an outburst in court today made his position on the team untenable,” a spokesman told Agence France-Presse.
“We now have the best legal representation working in harmony, focused on getting our journalists out of jail.”
An Amnesty Australia spokesman, Michael Hayworth, said the resignation was “certainly not going to be helpful, but it’s also not going to be cataclysmic”.
“His resignation and his public statements certainly reflect the reason that he’s had a bit of a disagreement with al-Jazeera about the course of their taking a $150m lawsuit against the Egyptian authorities,” Hayworth told Guardian Australia. The trial was adjourned until 22 May.
