 Some 100 journalists and lawyers staged a rally in Islamabad yesterday against a seven-year jail term handed down to Al-Jazeera reporter Tayseer Alouni by Spain this week for collaborating with Al-Qaeda. The protesters termed the Spain court verdict as politically motivated. Dozens of reporters, cameramen, photographers, journalistsâ trade union leaders and lawyersâ representatives took part in the rally. âTayseer is a journalist not a terrorist,â read one banner, as protesters wearing black arm bands marched toward Parliament square chanting slogans including: âDo not demonize Muslimsâ.
| How many were tehre demanded we not demonize Beelzebub? |
Later they handed a memo of protest to the Spanish Embassy in Islamabad. âItâs utterly shameful that a so-called civilized country has convicted a journalist who was performing his duty,â said Fauzia Shahid, president of Pakistanâs National Press Club. Alouni, who is Syrian-born but a naturalized Spaniard, was jailed by a Spanish court at the end of Europeâs biggest Al-Qaeda trial which began last April. He interviewed the groupâs leader Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. |