Opinion: Pardon of Al Jazeera journalists a bright spot in a repressive world

The decision by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi to pardon Al Jazeera journalists convicted on terror-related charges comes as good news, but I suspect it’s too much to hope that the decision might signal a change in the government’s atrocious repression of a free press.

The pardons led to the release of Mohamed Fahmy, a Canadian national, and his Egyptian colleague, Baher Mohamed, but Egypt still holds 18 journalists, some without charge and others accused of committing crimes against the state in connection with their coverage of, among other events, anti-government protests, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Of course, the issue isn’t unique to Egypt. The CPJ estimated that at the end of 2014, there were 221 journalists imprisoned around the world for doing their jobs. The biggest offender: China, with 44 journalists reported at the time to be behind bars.

Iran continues to hold Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, though for weeks there have been “any day now” rumors of a final adjudication from his trial on espionage charges -- a trial decried by international human rights advocates as a sham. The Times editorial board also blasted Iran over its treatment of Rezaian.

“Each nation has the right to adopt and enforce its own laws, preferably in keeping with international standards of justice and due process,” the board wrote in May after a secret court hearing. “But Iran’s Revolutionary Courts fall far short of any objective standard of fairness. While we take a professional interest in the right of the world’s journalists to work without undue interference, we take a human interest in the right of all people not to be deprived of liberty through secret proceedings, hazy evidence and a rigged process.”

That’s the key here. Journalists are targeted as acts of intimidation, and in efforts by governments to cloak their own actions in secrecy. Where the media are repressed, so are the people.

Interestingly, the CPJ’s annual list of “most censored” countries ranked Iran seventh, and Egypt doesn’t even make the top 10. The worst transgressor? Tiny Eritrea, where all telecommunications go through a government-controlled system and Internet access is available to about 1% of the population -- by dial-up.

“Only state media is allowed to disseminate news; the last accredited international correspondent was expelled in 2007,” the CPJ said. “Even those working for the heavily censored state press live in constant fear of arrest for any report perceived as critical to the ruling party, or on suspicion that they leaked information outside the country.”

Then there’s the ultimate in repression of journalists. The CPJ reports that 43 journalists have been killed so far this year alone, some in combat but 33 targeted in murders. Eight of those were in a single episode: the terror attack on the Paris office of the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine.

That seems so long ago, doesn’t it? And it reminds that not all attacks against a free press, and the free exchange of ideas, come from governments.

Follow Scott Martelle on Twitter @smartelle