CAIRO—A Canadian journalist working for Al-Jazeera English and his two colleagues were sentenced to seven years in prison by an Egyptian court on terrorism-related charges on Monday, in a case that has dealt a severe blow to press freedom in Egypt and sparked condemnation around the world.

The sentences were handed down to Mohamed Fahmy, an experienced journalist with dual Egyptian-Canadian citizenship who previously worked with CNN and The New York Times; Peter Greste, an award-winning Australian correspondent who also worked with the BBC; and Baher Mohamed, an Egyptian producer who previously worked with Japanese news outlet Asahi Shimbun. Mohamed received an additional three years in prison for possession of a single spent bullet casing he found on the ground during a protest, Al-Jazeera said.

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The courtroom, which was packed with journalists, diplomats and family members, erupted after the sentences were read out by the judge. Fahmy grabbed the caged dock and shouted out against the ruling before court police grabbed him and hauled him away. “They’ll pay for this,” he screamed.

Fahmy’s younger brother Adel angrily yelled insults at the court. His mother, Wafaa, wept as she tried to cover Adel’s mouth, afraid for his safety.

“This is not a system and it’s not a country. They ruined our lives, they ruined the whole family,” said Adel. “Everything is corrupt. This country is corrupt through and through.”

Family members of the three journalists say they will appeal. Harsh court rulings against any opposition voices have increasingly become the norm, but some cases have had success on appeal. In December, 14 women and girls sentenced to 11 years in prison after a peaceful protest were set free a month later after a court reduced their term to a one-year suspended sentence following an international outcry.

“These rulings are not based on law, they are based on politics,” said Gamal Eid, a lawyer and the executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights. “The Al-Jazeera verdict is political so political pressure will come to bear on appeal.”

Greste said nothing after Monday’s ruling and only raised a fist in the air as an act of silent defiance. His brother, Andrew, said they would visit with him on Tuesday. “All those words really don’t do my emotions justice,” he said. “This definitely wasn’t an outcome we were expecting.”

The three men were arrested in December and have already been imprisoned for nearly six months, held for 23 hours a day inside their shared cell.

Prosecutors have accused them of conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood — designated a terrorist organization by Egyptian authorities — to spread “false news” and smear country’s reputation in order to bring down the military-backed government.

Videos presented by the prosecution throughout the trial showed little more than uncontroversial footage and unfinished news reports. At times, videos that had nothing to do with Egypt or Al-Jazeera were shown.

“We haven’t seen any evidence that would support the charges brought against them,” said Mohamed Lotfy, a trial observer for Amnesty International. “You have to put the verdict in the context of a politicized judiciary where trials are being used as a means to crack down on dissenting voices and on media outlets that broadcast views that the government doesn't want to be heard.”

Since the military-backed ouster of elected president Mohammed Morsi in July last year, as many as 41,000 people have been imprisoned or charged in Egypt, the vast majority of them for political reasons, according to a local rights group.

While the Brotherhood and their supporters have been the primary target, the crackdown has broadened to encompass dissenting voices across the political spectrum, including many of the prominent activists who helped launch the 2011 revolution.

A total of 20 defendants were named in the Al-Jazeera case. Four students, who had no connection to Al-Jazeera, were sentenced to seven years in jail and a further 11 people were sentenced in absentia to 10 years in jail, including British journalists Sue Turton and Dominic Kane of Al-Jazeera and Dutch journalist Rena Netjes who met with Fahmy once in the hotel where he was arrested. Two people were acquitted, including the son of leading Brotherhood figure Mohamed el-Beltagy.

A statement on the verdict issued by the office of the prosecutor general described the prison sentences as a “deterrent.”

Fahmy, 40, was born in Kuwait to Egyptian parents. The family immigrated to Canada in 1991 and received Canadian citizenship in 1994. After graduating from City University in Vancouver, Fahmy worked in the Middle East as a journalist in the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and elsewhere, before moving to Egypt in 2011 to cover the revolution, where he worked primarily with CNN. He is the author of two books, Baghdad Bound: An Interpreter's Chronicles of the Iraq War and Egyptian Freedom Story.

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In May, he won the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom award, which described him as “a passionate journalist and advocate of press freedom who is facing retribution and censorship for exercising his right to free expression.”

Fahmy says he has been left permanently disabled after having been denied proper medical care in prison for an injury to his shoulder that deteriorated when he was in solitary confinement with no bed or sunlight for six weeks.

Canadian ambassador to Egypt, David Drake, attended Monday’s session, along with the ambassadors of Australia, Britain, Holland and Latvia.

“Obviously we are very disappointed with this outcome,” Drake said, refusing to comment on whether the ruling would affect relations between Ottawa and Cairo. “The defence counsel did an excellent job in making it clear that there is no incriminating evidence with regard to the charges and that there are multiple procedural shortcomings with regard to the trial itself. Therefore we do not understand this verdict.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the verdict in a statement on Monday: “Today’s conviction and chilling, draconian sentences . . . in a trial that lacked many fundamental norms of due process, is a deeply disturbing setback to Egypt’s transition,” he said.

His comments came one day after he met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi during a brief visit to Egypt. Kerry said he discussed the Al-Jazeera case with el-Sissi but also signalled that Washington would fully restore suspended military aid to Egypt.

Al Anstey, the managing director of Al-Jazeera English, said in a statement that the verdicts defied “logic, sense, and any semblance of justice.”

“Today three colleagues and friends were sentenced, and will continue behind bars for doing a brilliant job of being great journalists. ‘Guilty’ of covering stories with great skill and integrity. ‘Guilty’ of defending people’s right to know what is going on in their world,” he said.

Sharif Abdel Kouddous is a Cairo-based fellow at the Nation Institute.

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