File Photo: Australian journalist Peter Greste in the defendants' cage during one of the hearings in the trial of Al Jazeera journalists (Photo: Reuters)
Australian journalist Peter Greste has spoken out against a recent court ruling that saw him sentenced to seven years in jail by an Egyptian court in a case he said was meant to intimidate critical voices in the media.
Along with two other Al Jazeera journalists, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and local producer Baher Mohamed, award-winning correspondent Greste was handed a seven-year jail term on Monday for joining or aiding the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood and spreading lies that harm national security.
"I am devastated and outraged" by the verdict, said Greste, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Africa, in a statement reported by the Qatari news network early on Thursday.
Producer Baher Mohamed was handed an additional three years for possession of ammunition, which his employer said was a charge based on a single spent bullet casing Mohamed had found on the ground during a protest.
The sentencing has sparked an international outcry and heightened fears of the muzzling of dissenting media in Egypt. Australia said it was "appalled" by the jailing and the US slammed it as "chilling and draconian."
Al Jazeera has repeatedly dismissed the charges against its journalists and called for their immediate release.
"Throuout this trial, the prosecutor has consistently failed to present a single piece of concrete evidence to support the outrageous allegations against us," Greste said in the message conveyed by his brothers who visited him in a Cairo prison a day after the sentencing, and posted on the Free Peter Greste Facebook page Thursday.
Greste said his lawyers "highlighted countless procedural errors, irregularities and abuses of due process that should have had the entire case thrown out of court many times over".
Eleven co-defendants being tried in absentia, including two Britsh Al Jazeera journalists, received 10-year terms each, judicial sources said. A Dutch national is also among the convicts.
"The verdict confirms that our trial was never simply about the charges against us," the 48-year old reporter said in the paraphrased statement as reported by his brothers, who were not allowed any writing material in the prison."It has been an attempt to use the court to intimidate and silence critical voices in the media."
"That is why I know that our freedom, and more importantly the freedom of Egypt's press will never come without noisy, sustained pressure from individuals, human rights groups, governments and anyone who understand the fundamental importance of a free press to Egypt's fledgling democracy."
Slamming the "gross injustice" he and his colleagues have been subjected to, Greste said he intended to consider all possible measures to overturn the conviction.
Andrew Greste said his brother "looked trired and drained" when he visited him at a prison complex on the southern oustkirts of Cairo. "But he says he is still 'mentally strong,' " Andrew said via Twitter
Egypt authorities have been infuriated by the coverage of the Qatar-based satellite network since the ouster of Islamist president Mohame Morsi last year and an ensuing state crackdown on his supporters.
The network has contributed to straining ties between Cairo and Doha, a staunch supporter of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group.
Australia and the US has called on new president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to pardon the jailed journalists.
El-Sisi, however said on Tuesday in a televised speech during a military graduation ceremony he would not interfere in court rulings, emphasising that Egypt's judiciary is independent.
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