Gotye Song Used As Evidence In Trial Of Al Jazeera Journalists In Egypt

Gotye‘s Somebody That I Used To Know was reportedly one of the pieces of evidence presented during the trial of Australian journalist Peter Greste and his Al Jazeera English colleagues Mohammed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, who were sentenced to prison in Cairo yesterday.

As the Toronto Sun reports, the bizarre trial of the three journalists, who were accused of supporting terrorism, saw the prosecution present “a poor recording” of the Belgian-Australian artist’s Hottest 100-topping hit as evidence, with reportedly no explanation whatsoever given.

According to The Huffington Post, other evidence offered by the prosecution included a Photoshopped image of Fahmy with the former leader of Egypt’s Higher Military Council Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, photos of Greste’s parents on holiday, a Panorama documentary about Somalia, footage of sheep, and a clip from Sky News Arabic, which none of the accused actually worked on.

Much of the evidence that was used to sentence Greste, Fahmy, and Mohamed to seven, seven and 10-year prison sentences respectively was offered without context or explanation. This included, as Mashable reports, an audio file of an unidentified person singing to himself. Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International has called the trial “a complete sham.”

Neither Gotye, real name Wouter “Wally” De Backer, nor Kimbra, who features on Somebody That I Used To Know, have commented on the use of their music during the trial. Back in April, members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers denounced the use of their music in the exercise of injustice after it was alleged that their songs had been used during torture at a Guantanamo Bay black site prison.

Watch: Gotye feat Kimbra – Somebody That I Used To Know

Gallery: Gotye – Entertainment Centre, Sydney 14/12/2012

Photos by Josh Milch

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