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The Fahmy Foundation was established in 2015 by award-winning journalist Mohamed Fahmy and his wife, Marwa Omara, to champion free speech and fight suppression of the press.
Based in Vancouver, Canada, the Foundation provides advocacy and financial assistance for reporters, photographers and prisoners of conscience unjustly imprisoned around the world. |
Recent projects include presenting the 12-point Protection Charter with Amnesty International (Canada) in Ottawa to ensure greater advocacy for Canadians overseas. |
For imprisoned journalists, prisoners of conscience, and their families, our campaigns provide much-needed advocacy, public awareness and critical support. Learn how you can help. |
Get involved in our campaigns, raise awareness, and help keep the voices of those unjustly imprisoned alive. Every contribution can make a big difference. Advocacy works! |
Fahmy Foundation partners CJFE calls on Liberal government to support Bill-S231
Bill S-231, the Journalistic Source Protection Act, was passed last month by the Senate of Canada and is now in its second reading in the House of Commons.
The bill amends the Canada Evidence Act to protect the confidentiality of journalistic sources. It also amends the Criminal Code so that only a judge of a superior court of criminal jurisdiction may issue a search warrant relating to a journalist. Fahmy Foundation partners CJFE calls on Liberal government to support Bill-S231. READ MORE Journalist Justin Brake facing criminal charges for reporting on protest.
Justin Brake, reporter and editor for TheIndependent.ca, discusses his coverage of Muskrat Falls and the criminal charges that he now faces for choosing to break a court injunction in order to remain on the hydroelectric dam property to report on the protests in October 2016.
By Keri Coles READ MORE Canadian Journalists Mohamed Fahmy, Patrick Legacé, Ben Maku in Ottawa with CJFE calling on government to protect press freedom
Click here for an exclusive interview with VICE journalist Ben Makuch on his legal battle against the RCMP. By Keri Coles
UPDATED: Canadian journalist's fight against the RCMP intensifies
The Fahmy Foundation is continuing to support journalist Ben Makuch and Vice Media’s intensifying fight against the RCMP in the Canadian courts.
After being ordered to turn over research materials from Makuch’s contact with an alleged ISIS member in Canada last March, a coalition of advocacy organizations (including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association) filed documents with the Ontario Court of Appeal, arguing that “forcing journalists to act as investigators for police would undermine the critical role news outlets play in a free society”. READ MORE 6 reporters spied on by Quebec police - CBC
CBC - Quebec provincial police confirm that six members of the press were spied on in 2013 as part of a police investigation that was launched on the same day that a labour union boss filed a complaint.
Earlier this week, the Montreal newspaper La Presse revealed one of its columnists was the subject of a police warrant to track his cellphone communication. Montreal police obtained 24 warrants this year to track Patrick Lagacé's whereabouts using the GPS chip in his iPhone, and to obtain the identities of everyone he communicated with. The news prompted political leaders to call for greater protection of journalists... Click here to read full CBC article. Fahmy Foundation joins Reporters Without Borders and over 120 other organizations to endorse special envoy proposal
In an effort to provide protection for journalists working around the world, the Fahmy Foundation joined Reporters Without Borders and over 120 other organizations, calling on the United Nations to establish a special representative for the Safety of Journalists. Other prominent organizations and individuals joined the call, including Human Rights Watch, Committee to Protect Journalists, and Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO.
SEE the full list of endorsements here THREATS TO JOURNALISTS AT "ALL TIME HIGH": Interview with CJFE's Tom Henheffer
After over a decade fighting to defend journalists, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression’s Executive Director Tom Henheffer believes that journalists and advocates are facing more challenges now than ever before.
“The situation for journalists, free expression defenders and human rights activists in the world now is absolutely atrocious. It may be the worst its ever been for journalists. ” READ MORE |
Mohamed Fahmy and Amnesty International propose enshrining a new law to obligate government to defend the rights of Canadians imprisoned abroad
1,376 Canadians are currently incarcerated abroad, many under oppressive regimes, held on trumped up charges and facing grave human rights violations. Fahmy’s work is fueled by his desire to protect other Canadian citizens from the horrors of his own experience: 438 days in an Egyptian jail for performing his job as a journalist. With more than five million Canadians outside of Canada at any one time, this issue is of national importance. Amnesty International is working alongside Fahmy to urge the Canadian government to enshrine in law the right for all Canadian citizens to receive consular assistance and equal treatment. Their proposed #protectioncharter is calling on the Liberal government to defend the rights of Canadians imprisoned abroad.
Read About the Campaign, and the Full List of Endorsers 
Fahmy Foundation partners with Amnesty International on multi-language #FreeTurkeyMedia worldwide campaign.
According to the Committee for the Protection of Journalists,
Turkey is the biggest jailer of journalists in the world, detaining
one-third of all imprisoned journalists globally, most still awaiting
trial.
The Fahmy Foundation has partnered with Amnesty International on a multi-language #FreeTurkeyMedia worldwide campaign to raise awareness for this tragedy. READ MORE World Press Freedom
Map by Andrew Fahmy
Click here to read the Freedom House Report Fahmy Foundation urges PM Trudeau to endorse campaign for safety of journalists
On November 2, 2016 Fahmy Foundation joined CJFE, Canadian organizations and media outlets urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to lend his support to and publicly endorse the campaign to appoint a Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for the safety of journalists
READ MORE Joining the fight against Bill C-51
The Fahmy Foundation stands with human rights and advocacy organizations (like Amnesty International Canada, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and the BC Civil Liberties Association) arguing that Bill C-51 could “seriously jeopardize the rights & freedoms of Canadians”.
READ MORE |
URGENT ACTION ALERTS
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German reporter, Deniz Yücel, was taken into custody in Turkey on February 14, 2017. German government officials and international human rights organizations are condemning the arrest as an assault on freedom of the press.
TAKE ACTION FOR DENIZ |
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Imprisoned since 2013, photojournalist Shawkan's trial in Egypt was postponed again this month.
TAKE ACTION FOR SHAWKAN |
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Imprisoned in Saudi Arabia since 2012, Raif faces the constant threat of flogging as part of his sentence.
TAKE ACTION FOR RAIF |
