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Peter Greste

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Australian journalist

Peter Greste
Greste in 2015
Born (1965-12-01) 1 December 1965 (age 59)
Sydney, Australia
NationalityLatvian Australian
CitizenshipAustralia
Latvia
EducationBachelor of Business
Alma materQueensland University of Technology (Australia)
Occupation(s)Academic, journalist, writer
Notable workFreeing Peter (2016)
The First Casualty (2017)
Criminal statusArrested and jailed in Cairo, Egypt on 29 December 2013 and sentenced for 7 years on 23 June 2014

Deported to Australia
on 1 February 2015
to face prison or trial
(Australia did not uphold)

Egyptian retrial in absentia on 29 August 2015 increased jail sentence by another 3 years
(Greste did not return to Egypt)
Conviction(s)Falsifying news and having a negative impact on overseas perceptions of Egypt
Criminal penalty10 years prison (2013-23)
400 days served (2013-15)

Peter Greste (Latvian: Pēteris Greste; born 1 December 1965) is a dual citizen Latvian Australian academic, memoirist and writer. Formerly a journalist and foreign correspondent, he worked for Reuters, CNN, the BBC and Al Jazeera English; predominantly in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa.

On 29 December 2013, Greste and two other Al Jazeera journalists were arrested by Egyptian authorities in Cairo. On 23 June 2014, Greste was found guilty of falsifying news and having a negative impact on overseas perceptions of the country, and sentenced to seven years prison. The Australian government intervened and negotiated on his behalf with a new Egyptian government.

On 1 February 2015, Greste was officially deported to Australia (via Cyprus) on the condition that he face prison or trial in his home country; something Australia did not uphold. At a retrial on 29 August 2015, an Egyptian court sentenced Greste in absentia to another three years in prison. However, he avoided serving that sentence because he was already out of Egypt and did not return. If the full sentences were served, Greste would have been incarcerated until December 2023.

Early life

Greste has Latvian ancestry and two younger brothers. Born in Sydney, he is a dual citizen of Australia and Latvia. Greste was school captain of Indooroopilly State High School, and holds a Bachelor of Business degree from the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane.

Early news media career

Greste in 2012 with his Peabody Award for the documentary Somalia: Land of Anarchy

From 1991 to 1995, Greste was based in London, Bosnia and South Africa, working for Reuters, CNN, WTN and the BBC. In 1995, he was based in Kabul, Afghanistan as a correspondent for the BBC and Reuters. Then, in Belgrade for a year as a correspondent for Reuters. Greste returned to London and worked for BBC News 24. He was next based in Mexico, then Santiago as a correspondent for the BBC.

Greste returned to Afghanistan in 2001 to cover the start of the War in Afghanistan . Afterwards, he worked across the Middle East and Latin America. From 2004, Greste was based in Mombasa, Kenya, then Johannesburg, South Africa, followed by six years in Nairobi, Kenya.

In 2011, Greste won a Peabody Award for a BBC documentary on Somalia. That year, he left the BBC and became a correspondent for Al Jazeera English in Africa.

Egyptian trial and imprisonment

Main article: 2013–15 detention of Al Jazeera journalists by Egypt

In late December 2013, Greste was arrested in Cairo with Al Jazeera colleagues Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed. "The interior ministry said the journalists had held illegal meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood", which was recently declared a terrorist group; furthermore, the journalists were accused of news reporting which was "damaging to national security". In January 2014, Egyptian authorities were reportedly going to charge twenty Al Jazeera journalists, including Greste, of falsifying news and having a negative impact on overseas perceptions of the country. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged Egypt to "promptly release" the Al Jazeera personnel in custody.

On 21 February 2014, Greste was refused bail and his case was adjourned until 5 March. During a 31 March hearing, Greste asked to be released and told the judge that "The idea that I could have an association with the Muslim Brotherhood is frankly preposterous." On 23 June, Greste was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison. Mohammed Fahmy also received seven years while Baher Mohamed received ten years. International media reaction was swift and negative. US Secretary of State John Kerry described the prison sentences as "chilling and draconian" and noted that he had spoken to Egyptian governmental officials including President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. Despite widespread international media condemnation, al-Sisi declared that he would not interfere with judicial rulings.

Internationally, Greste and his colleagues were portrayed as political prisoners due to the nature of the trial, the evidence presented and the sentences imposed. On the other hand, "Cairo felt that the Qatari media outlet (Al Jazeera) had become a mouthpiece for the ousted and banned Muslim Brotherhood. The harsh sentences were handed down as a warning to the Gulf state to not get involved in Egyptian domestic politics." On 1 January 2015, the Court of Cassation announced a retrial for Greste and his colleagues. Release on bail was not permitted. The Australian government intervened, and Greste was officially deported to Australia (via Cyprus) on 1 February. The Egyptian law allowing the deportation of foreigners stipulated that they face prison or trial in their home country, but Australia did not uphold either. Otherwise, no explanation was given for his release.

On 29 August 2015, an Egyptian court sentenced Greste and his two colleagues to another three years in prison, with Baher Mohamed receiving an additional six months. Greste was tried in absentia and avoided imprisonment because he was deported to Australia in February and did not re-enter Egypt. On 23 September, Fahmy and Mohamed were pardoned by Egyptian President al-Sisi.

In 2024, The Correspondent, an Australian film adaptation of Greste's experiences was released.

Awards

Greste won a Peabody Award for a BBC documentary on Somalia in 2011. Two weeks after being released from prison and deported from Egypt in February 2015, Greste accepted a special Royal Television Society award in London on behalf of himself and two Al Jazeera colleagues for sacrifices to journalism. After separately advocating widely for freedom of the press and free speech, Greste was individually awarded the 2015 Australian Human Rights Medal.

Books

In 2016, Penguin Books published Freeing Peter, Greste's biographical account of his family's efforts to free him from an Egyptian prison. Greste's next book, The First Casualty (2017), was shortlisted for the 2018 Walkley Book Award and reportedly contains a "first-hand account of how the war on journalism has spread from the battlefields of the Middle East to the governments of the West".

Later media career and academia

Greste wrote, directed and featured as interviewer in Facebook: Cracking the Code (2017), a forty-five minute Australian Four Corners television documentary. The episode's theme was the "lack of online privacy and the lengths the tracking goes to", "but that soon was usurped by Greste’s personal story of how his supporters used Facebook's algorithms to help spread his own story to mass markets and help his case" in Egypt rather than "how extreme right-wing supporters use similar methods and how they skirt Facebook's tracking system."

Greste next presented Monash and Me (2018), a two-part TV documentary miniseries on the heroics of Australian First World War military commander Sir John Monash. "While examining the battles that made Monash famous, Greste also discovered his own family’s previously unknown role in Monash’s First Australian Imperial Force."

In February 2018, Greste was appointed UNESCO Chair in Journalism and Communications at the University of Queensland; a role that "includes a range of teaching, research and engagement activities". With Australian lawyer Chris Flynn and journalist Peter Wilkinson, Greste co-founded the Alliance for Journalists' Freedom. In April 2019, Greste denounced UK-imprisoned Australian editor, publisher and activist Julian Assange as a journalist and WikiLeaks as a news organisation.

In 2022, Greste commenced as an adjunct professor of journalism at Macquarie University.

Personal life

In 2021, the State Library of Queensland commissioned a digital story and an oral history interview with Greste. As at late 2022, Greste identified as a keen kitesurfer living in Brisbane. His partner, Christine Jackman, is also a former journalist and correspondent.

See also

References

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  54. "'We just hit it off': Peter Greste's life after lock-up". 19 February 2021.
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