An award-winning journalist jailed in Egypt for more than 400 days will be giving a talk to Cardiff University students tonight. Peter Greste, a broadcast journalist for Al Jazeera, was released from prison earlier this month.
Mr Greste was one of three Al Jazeera journalists jailed by Egyptian authorities in December 2013, charged with crimes of “spreading false news” and “aiding the Muslim Brotherhood”.
Mr Greste’s colleagues Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy were released on bail last week pending retrial. The three men were awarded The Royal Television Society’s Judges’ Award this week, which recognises outstanding contributions to the advancement of television journalism.
Mr Greste, 48, worked for numerous news organisations including Reuters and the BBC before joining Al Jazeera’s English news channel.
He is an experienced foreign correspondent who has reported on Bosnia, South Africa
, Afghanistan, Mexico, and the Middle East.
He was the BBC’s Kabul correspondent in 1995, where he watched the Taliban emerge, and he returned after the US-led invasion in 2001.
The Australian also won a Peabody Award in 2011 for his documentary Somalia: Land of Anarchy. Since 2009 Mr Greste has been based in Nairoibi, Kenya, where he covered the horn of Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and the Great Lake states.He was sent to Cairo to cover Egyptian Politics in 2012.
Emma Gilliam, who is the Director of Broadcast Journalism at Cardiff University said: “He is a resilient journalist of great integrity who is completely dedicated to his career.”
Ms Gilliam, who worked with Mr Greste for the BBC in Africa, added: “He shy yet tenacious. He pitched up in London from Australia with a clear idea of what he wanted to do.”
“He would much rather the press attention be about his act rather than him as a personality. The key issue he fought for was ensuring the rights of journalists are upheld.”
“It is an honour to welcome Peter to Cardiff University and it is a huge occasion for the school.”
Mr Greste’s guest lecture will take place from 5pm to 6pm in the Bute Building of the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies today.
