The “Translators for Journalists” network of linguists, all of whom are members of Kontax, the multilingual press release and news service, translates copyright-free articles in order to promote freedom of the media worldwide.
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International PEN and UNEQ defend freedom of the press
Montréal, Quebec – 29 June 2014 – The Quebec Centre of International PEN (PEN Quebec) and the Quebec Writers’ Union (UNEQ), which includes nearly 1,550 writers and poets, have demanded in a press release the freedom of three journalists working for the television channel Al-Jazeera. Accused of being associated with a terrorist organization, they have been sentenced to 7-10 years in prison.
One the three men includes Mohammed Fahmy, an Egyptian-born Canadian. This is why PEN Quebec and UNEQ, founded respectively in 1926 and 1977, are urging the Canadian government to intervene with the Egyptian authorities to quash the conviction and free the three reporters.
Already solicited by Western authorities, Egyptian President El-Sissi has rejected demands for the release of three journalists, who also include Australian Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohamed.
« We need the federal government to use its influence to denounce the treatment of these journalists whose only crime was to do their job, key work in a free and democratic society, » said the president of UNEQ, Danièle Simpson.
« Ottawa must condemn in the strongest terms a move which has every appearance of an authoritarian drift from the Egyptian military power in order to muzzle the press and silence any opposition » concluded Ms Simpson.
Article translated by Malcolm Duff, a member of “Translators for Journalists”
The original article was published by ActuaLitté (Canada)
For further details, please see:
http://www.actualitte.com/iwww.actualitte.com/international/les-ecrivains-quebecois-s-unissent-pour-les-journalistes-d-al-jazeera-51051.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Actualitt-UnePageDeCaractre+(Actualitté+-+Une+page+de+caractére)
The sole responsibility for the content of this article lies with the translator. Translated with the kind permission of the copyright owner.