Mohamed Fahmy sues employer Al-Jazeera for $100M

Mohamed Fahmy, an Egyptian-Canadian journalist on trial in Cairo, has filed a lawsuit against employer Al-Jazeera in a Canadian court, saying the network's negligence led to his arrest and demanding $100 million in compensation.

Fahmy, who spent more than 400 days in a Cairo prison on charges of aiding a terrorist organization, suggested Al-Jazeera's actions had landed him behind bars. Fahmy is a naturalized Canadian who gave up his Egyptian citizenship.

Fahmy was the Cairobureau chief of Al-Jazeera's English network.

• The fifth estate |The Mohamed Fahmy Story: 400 Days
• Mohamed Fahmy says he's glad to be free, but his battle isn't over

At a news conference in Cairo,Fahmy'slawyer, JoannaGialason, said the lawsuit asks the court to declareAl-Jazeeranegligent in its conduct towardFahmy. It says the network should pay $100 million in punitive and remedial damages for its role inFahmy'sconviction and subsequent imprisonment.

Fahmy is also seeking compensation to treat a shoulder injury that he said has become a permanent disability since his imprisonment.

In court documents filed on May 5, Fahmyargues that the network's failures resulted in, among other things, his loss of freedom, severe pain, damaged professional reputation, and anxiety and distress due to losing his Egyptian citizenship.

His lawsuit alleges the network failed to take heed of the political and legal situation in Egypt before and after his time working for it in Cairo, which included the ousting of Muslim Brotherhood-supportedformer president Mohamed Morsi and the establishmentof a military-backed government.

Fahmy claims the network's failures include equivocating on securing Egyptian press accreditation for him and several other unaccredited Al-Jazeera English staff in Cairo, paying anti-government activists to producebroadcastfootage on an affiliate Al-Jazeera channel that was banned in the country, and rebroadcasting reports that Fahmy and his colleagues produced for Al-Jazeera English with Arabic voiceovers on the banned channel.

Al-Jazeera's actions'high-handed, reprehensible,' Fahmyclaims

The banned channel,Al-JazeeraEgypt Live, was used to illegally broadcast inflammatory material in an attempt to undermine the government,Fahmy'sclaim says.

The lawsuitclaims that the rebroadcasts created the appearance that he and his staff members were producing content for Al-Jazeera Egypt Livein defiance of Egyptian law.

Despite multiple warnings sent to network managers, according to Fahmy, the network continued to make such broadcasts.

The court documents allegeAl-Jazeera's actions were "high-handed, reprehensible and showed a wanton disregard for Fahmy's freedom, health, safety and security."

Fahmywas arrested, along with two other Al-JazeeraEnglish journalists, in Cairo in 2013.He, Egyptian Baher Mohamed and Australian Peter Grestewere originally sentenced to seven to 10 years in prison on charges that included spreading lies to help a "terrorist organization,"a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The three journalists were convicted in 2014 and sent to prison. Greste, an Australian, was freed and deported earlier this year.

All three denied the charges. In January, a court ordered a retrial, citing procedural flaws.

Fahmywas released from prison on bail in February, pending a retrial ordered by a judicial appeal body.

Fahmyshould seek compensation from jailers,Al-Jazeerasays

The Muslim Brotherhood was banned after the Egyptian military overthrewMorsi, whom the group had backed. After it was banned, the Brotherhood was publicly supported by Qatar, where Al-Jazeera is headquartered.

"It's sad to see Fahmy and his lawyer repeating criticisms of Al-Jazeera made by the Egyptian authorities," said an Al-Jazeera spokesman.

"It's what his captors want to hear at this stage of the retrial. All governments have news outlets they don't like, but they don't use spurious grounds to put journalists in jail. If Fahmy wants to seek monetary compensation from anyone, it should be from his jailers."

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's human rights record has come under scrutiny since he, as army chief, toppled Morsias president in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

A crackdown launched thereafter resulted in hundreds killed and thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members put in jail.

El-Sissi has said that he wished the Al-Jazeera journalists had been deported and not put on trial.

In late April, Fahmy received a temporary Canadian passport amid hopes among his family and supporters that he could soon leave Egypt.