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CAIRO — Egypt’s highest appeals court on Thursday ordered a retrial for three imprisoned journalists from Al Jazeera’s English-language service, acknowledging critical procedural flaws in a case that focused international criticism on the government.
Still, the decision offered no guarantees that the journalists, who have been in prison for more than a year, would be freed anytime soon.
The case has been an embarrassment for Egypt, drawing attention to the government’s sweeping crackdown on media freedom and political dissent since the military ouster of the country’s first democratically elected leader, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The journalists — Mohamed Fahmy, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed — were convicted in June on charges that included conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood to broadcast false reports. All three were sentenced to seven-year prison terms, but Mr. Mohamed received three additional years for possessing a spent bullet casing that he had recovered from a street protest.
