Released by Juris and Lois Greste, parents of imprisoned Australian ask-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste tonight: his first

letter from prison !" am ner#ous as " $rite this " am in my %old prison %ell after my first offi%ial e&er%ise session ' four glorious hours in the grass yard behind our blo%k and " don(t $ant that right to be snat%hed a$ay "(#e been lo%ked in my %ell )* hours a day for the past +, days, allo$ed out only for #isits to the prose%utor for -uestioning, so the %han%e for a $alk in the $eak $inter sunshine is pre%ious .o too are the books on history, Arabi% and fi%tion that my neighbors ha#e passed to me, and the pad and pen " no$ $rite $ith " $ant to %ling to these tiny joys and a#oid anything that might mo#e the prison authorities to puniti#ely $ithdra$ them " $ant to prote%t them almost as mu%h as " $ant my freedom ba%k /hat is $hy " ha#e sought, until no$, to fight my imprisonment -uietly from $ithin, to make the authorities understand that this is all a terrible mistake, that "(#e been %aught in the middle of a politi%al struggle that is not my o$n 0ut after ) $eeks in prison it is no$ %lear that this is a dangerous de%ision "t #alidates an atta%k not just on me and my t$o %olleagues but on freedom of spee%h a%ross 1gypt All of a sudden, my books seem rather petty " had been in 2airo only t$o $eeks before interior ministry agents burst through the door of my hotel room, that of my %olleague and produ%er 3ohamed 4ahmy, and into the home of Aljazeera(s se%ond produ%er 0aher 3ohamed 5e had been doing e&a%tly as any responsible, professional journalist $ould ' re%ording and trying to make sense of the unfolding e#ents $ith all the a%%ura%y, fairness and balan%e that our imperfe%t trade demands 3ost of the time, it is not a diffi%ult path to $alk 0ut $hen the 1gyptian go#ernment de%lared the 3uslim 0rotherhood to be 6/errorist organization7, it kno%ked the middle ground out of the dis%ourse 5hen the other side, politi%al or other$ise, is a 6terrorist7, there is no neutral $ay As George 5 0ush lo#ed to point out after 89++, you are either $ith the go#ernment or $ith the terrorists .o, e#en talking to them be%omes an a%t of treason, let alone broad%asting their ne$s ho$e#er benign /he follo$ing day, the go#ernment fleshed out its definition of the term Anyone %aught handing out 30 leaflets, or simply parti%ipating in protest mar%hes against the go#ernment %ould be arrested and imprisoned for 6spreading terrorist ideology7 /he 30 has lost mu%h of the support and %redibility on%e had $hen its politi%al leader 3ohamed 3orsi be%ame 1gypt(s first demo%rati%ally ele%ted president just o#er a year and a half ago And many here hold it responsible for a gro$ing $a#e of islamist #iolen%e, but it remains the single largest and best organized so%ial and politi%al for%e in 1gypt 5hat then for a journalist stri#ing for 6balan%e, fairness and a%%ura%y:7 ;o$ do you a%%urately and fairly report on 1gypt(s ongoing politi%al struggle $ithout talking to e#eryone in#ol#ed:

" $orried about his at the time $ith 3ohamed 4ahmy, but $e de%ided that the %hoi%e $as ob#ious ' as ob#ious as the pri%e $e are no$ paying for making it /he three of us ha#e been a%%used of %ollaborating $ith a terrorist organization <30= , of hosting 30 meetings in our hotel rooms, of using unli%ensed e-uipments to deliberately broad%ast false information to further their aims and defame and dis%redit the 1gyptian state /he state has presented no e#iden%e to support the allegations, and $e ha#e not been formally %harged $ith any %rime 0ut the prose%utor general has just e&tended our initial +>-day detention by another +> days to gi#e in#estigators more time to find something ;e %an do this indefinitely ' one of my prison mates has been behind bars for ? months $ithout a single %harge " am in /ora prison ' a spra$ling %omple& in the south of the %ity $here the authorities routinely #iolate legally enshrined prisoners( rights, denying #isits from la$yers, keeping %ells lo%ked for ), hours a day < and )* hours on publi% holidays= and so on 0ut e#en that is relati#ely benign %ompared to the %onditions my %olleagues are being held in 4ahmy and 0aher ha#e been a%%used of being 30 members, .o they are being held in the far more dra%onian 6.%orpion prison7 built for %on#i%ted terrorists 4ahmy has been denied the hospital treatment he badly needs for a shoulder injury he sustained shortly before our arrest 0oth men spend )* hours a day in their mos-uito-infested %ells, sleeping on the floor $ith no books or $riting materials to break the soul- destroying tedium Remember $e ha#e not been formally %harged, mu%h less %on#i%ted of any %rime 0ut this is not just about three Al Jazeera journalists @ur arrest and %ontinued detention sends a %lear and une-ui#o%al message to all journalists %o#ering 1gypt, both foreign and lo%al /he state $ill not tolerate hearing from the 30 or any other %riti%al #oi%es /he prisons are o#erflo$ing $ith anyone $ho opposes or %hallenges the go#ernment .e%ular a%ti#ists are senten%ed to A years $ith hard labor for #iolating protest la$s after de%lining an in#itation to openly support the go#ernmentB %ampaigners putting up 6Co7 banners ahead of the %onstitutional referendum are summarily detained Anyone, in short, $ho refuses to applaud the institution .o our arrest is not a mistake, and as a journalist this ". my battle " %an no longer pretend it(ll go a$ay by keeping -uiet and %rossing my fingers " ha#e no parti%ular fight $ith the 1gyptian go#ernment, just as " ha#e no interest in supporting the 30 or any other group here 0ut as a journalist " am %ommitted to defending a fundamental freedom of the press that no one in my profession %an %redibly $ork $ithout @ne that is deemed #ital to the proper fun%tioning of any open demo%ra%y, in%luding 1gypt(s $ith its ne$ %onstitution @f%ourse $e $ill %ontinue to fight this from inside prison and through the judi%ial system here 0ut our freedom, and more importantly the freedom of the press here, $ill not %ome $ithout loud sustained pressure from human rights and %i#il so%iety groups, indi#iduals and go#ernments $ho understand that 1gypt stability depends as mu%h as on

its ability to hold open honest %on#ersations among its people and the $orld, as it does on its ability to %rush #iolen%e 5e kno$ it is already happening, and all of us are both mo#ed and strengthened by the e&traordinary support $e ha#e already had, but it needs to %ontinue Peter Greste Tora prison