February 26, 2003	Wednesday	Zul Hijjah 24, 1423

PARIS, Feb 25: Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) said it has asked Qatar’s Emir Sheik Hamad Ben Khalifa al-Thani to pardon the Al-Jazeera journalist Firas Majali whose death sentence was confirmed by a Qatari appeals court on Monday.

“We are overwhelmed at the idea that this sentence may be executed. Without prejudging the merits of the case, we must emphasise that Firas Majali’s trial took place in a climate of great tension between Jordan and Qatar, which undoubtedly hindered the holding of a fair and equitable trial. Many observers see in this case a diplomatic row between the two countries and for which a journalist has already sufficiently borne the brunt”, said Robert Menard, RSF’s secretary-general.

A Jordanian national, Firas Majali was arrested in February 2002 in Doha, where he was working as a journalist for the first channel of the Qatari State television. Accused of ‘spying’ for his country, he was sentenced by the Supreme Court of Doha to the death penalty on 22 October 2002. The journalist is also the son of a former Jordanian information minister and belongs to an influential Jordanian family, which contributes to politicising this affair.