After 400 days in multiple Egyptian prisons, Peter Greste makes time to comment on his incarceration, his calls for dismissal of cases against other journalists, and his relief at his eventual release.
The press crackdown in Egypt which led to the imprisonment of Greste along with colleagues Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy in December 2013 fortunately attracted significant diplomatic attention from Britain, Australia, Latvia and Canada.
Upon his release, Greste claims the team never seriously believed a conviction would happen. It had been discussed due to the nature of the story being researched as “no boundaries were pushed for the story”.
During their imprisonment, the journalists were broadly treated with respect but also a certain amount of suspicion, however they were not threatened or injured at any point. According to the president of the National Union of Journalists, around 200 journalists are imprisoned for researching stories globally per annum.
Basic necessities and limited media access was available, but their release was prolonged due to suspended January 25th celebrations in Egypt where prisoners are often pardoned and released. A presidential decree to extradite foreign prisoners made in January was not used to release Greste and his colleagues as many believed it would.
In order to cope with solitary confinement, Greste focused on a ‘5bx’ (5 basic exercises) to maintain fitness as well as a masters degree in international relations at an Australian university. He says meditation, exercise, study and cooking created structure in the day.
Greste’s and fellow journalists’ incarceration has raised questions regarding press freedom, whether such a ‘noisy’ media campaign was beneficial to the case and the future of reporting from conflict zones.
Watch Greste’s BBC News interview here;