NDP calls on Stephen Harper to secure release of Mohamed Fahmy

NDP Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar issued the following statement on the sentencing of Mohamed Fahmy:

“Prime Minister Stephen Harper must take a break from electioneering and speak directly with Egyptian President al-Sisi on behalf of Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy to seek a personal guarantee that Mr. Fahmy will be pardoned and returned to Canada immediately.

Mr. Fahmy should never have been convicted or sentenced in Egypt for doing his job as a journalist. While other foreigners have been released to their home countries, Mr. Fahmy has sentenced to 3 years in prison.

On numerous occasions, New Democrats have called on the Prime Minister to personally intervene in this case. Yet Conservatives still refuse to answer even basic questions about when and how they were last in contact with the Egyptian government – the latest failure from a government that spent months denying its responsibility to give Mr. Fahmy a passport.

The Canadian government must take all necessary steps to urge Mr. Fahmy’s immediate pardon, release and return to Canada.”