Mohamed Fadel Fahmy (Arabic: محمد فاضل فهمي pronounced [mæˈħæmmæd ˈfɑːdˤel ˈfæhmi]; born April 27, 1974) is an Egyptian-born Canadian journalist, war correspondent and author.

On 29 December 2013, he and two fellow Al Jazeera English journalists, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed, were arrested by Egyptian authorities.

[6] In a BBC HARDtalk interview shortly after his release, he criticized Al Jazeera English's decision to take the Egyptian government to court for cancelling its network license.

Fahmy started his new job as an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia upon winning his freedom and returning to Vancouver, Canada.

The following year he won the Tom Renner Investigative Reporting award for producing the CNN Freedom Project documentary series "Death in the Desert".

For the first time, the series exposed the organized crime rings operating the illegal human trafficking of Sub-Saharan Africans to Israel through its Sinai border with Egypt.

[citation needed] Fahmy has suffered a permanent disability in his right arm, as he was forced to sleep on the floor in solitary confinement of a freezing, insect-infested cell in the terrorist wing for the first month of his detention, worsening an injury he had sustained before his arrest and mis-healing his bones.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was highly critical of the sentences of Fahmy and his co-workers, terming them "chilling and draconian" and noted he had spoken to Egyptian governmental officials including President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

[citation needed] Fahmy draws strength from similar experiences of his father who was imprisoned and placed on a watch-list for his writing and critique of the Mubarak regime before the January 25th revolution.

He traveled to Libya during the early days of the revolution in 2011 and reported on the hunt for dictator Gaddafi, the formation of a transitional government and the rise of extremism.

Fahmy Foundation partnered with Amnesty International in writing a Protection Charter presented to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the liberal government in Ottawa.

[16] Fahmy addressed the court in an emotional plea on June 16 and once again denied the charges and said, " I wish there was a single shred of evidence so I could defend myself.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was highly critical of the sentences of Fahmy and his co-workers, terming them "chilling and draconian" and noted he had spoken to Egyptian governmental officials including President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

President al-Sisi said in a speech at the Military Academy graduation ceremony that he called Minister of Justice Mahfouz Saber and told him,[20] We will not intervene in the affairs of the judiciary because it is independent.

If we earnestly seek a state of institutions, we must respect judicial rulings.On 23 July 2014, the judge in the case released his reasoning for the sentence, saying the Al-Jazeera journalists were brought together "by the devil" to destabilize Egypt.

[20] His lawyer Amal Clooney hired on his own capacity and not through Aljazeera Media Network called the judicial process a "show-trial" in her 18 August 2014 op-ed for the Huffington Post.

The Egyptian law allowing the deportation of foreigners stipulates that they face prison or trial in their home country, but Australia is not likely to uphold Greste's conviction, no explanation was given for his release.

They were found guilty of not registering with the country's Ministry of Culture, using central Cairo's Marriott hotel as a broadcasting point without permission,[26] bringing into Egypt equipment without security officials' approval,[27] and spreading false news.

[28] His legal team included Amal Clooney, who was able to secure on 30 August an interview with CBC Television's The National reporter in Egypt, Derek Stoffel, in which she called for Stephen Harper to intervene on behalf of Fahmy, saying[29] This is the most high-profile case of a Canadian abroad being imprisoned on sham charges.

If I were a Canadian citizen, I would want to see my prime minister now showing leadership on the global stage.The ambassador in Egypt for the UK, John Casson, was disciplined by the Egyptian foreign ministry over his "unacceptable interference" in the affair, made in Arabic outside the court, on Facebook and on Twitter.

[31] Each of the opposition foreign affairs critics called for firm action: NDP Foreign Affairs Critic Paul Dewar said,[31] Very concretely, we are asking Stephen Harper to put aside the election campaign for a moment and call President al-Sisi directly and ask him to send Mr. Fahmy home.while Liberal Foreign Affairs Critic Marc Garneau stated that Harper should contact el-Sissi and[31] ...register Canada's strongest disapproval, and in fact to make it very clear that the relationship between Canada and Egypt, which has been a good one, is in jeopardy if Mr. Fahmy has to go back to jail.A presidential spokesman for Sisi announced on 23 September 2015 that Fahmy and Baher Mohamed had been pardoned and were slated for release.