OTTAWA – A champion of media freedom around the globe is awarding its annual World Press Freedom Award to an Egyptian-Canadian journalist currently behind bars in Cairo.
The Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom has named Mohamed Fahmy as the 16th recipient of the award.
Fahmy, a producer with Al-Jazeera English, was arrested with two colleagues in December of last year and has been in jail ever since.
READ MORE: Supporters demand release of Canadian journalist in Egypt
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The three, along 17 others, face terrorism-related charges based on the Egyptian authorities’ accusations that they provided a platform to the Muslim Brotherhood group of ousted president Mohammed Morsi, which the government has declared a terrorist organization.
Fahmy is to be recognized Friday at a luncheon event in Ottawa, where author and scholar John Ralston Saul will serve as the keynote speaker.
Canadian politicians have repeatedly called for Fahmy’s release.
WATCH: Jailed Australian journalist Peter Greste, who is in an Egyptian jail with two of his colleagues, made a plea for their release in a letter read by his father in Sydney on Friday
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