Parents fight for jailed journalist Peter Greste Greste family's 'living nightmare' The Brisbane parents of Australian journalist Peter Greste are "in a state of shock" at his jailing in Egypt, declaring their son "completely innocent" of accusations against him. PT2M22S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-3168a 620 349 January 21, 2014 - 2:15PM To much of the world, Australian journalist Peter Greste is the daring foreign correspondent indefinitely detained in an Egyptian jail. To an elderly Brisbane couple, however, he's just the son they want to come home. A screen grab from a BBC report by Peter Greste, an Al-Jazeera journalist who was arrested for aiding the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Mr Greste, an award-winning journalist with Middle East-based broadcaster Al Jazeera, was arrested with two colleagues at a Cairo hotel on December 29. The trio have been accused of broadcasting false news in the service of the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood and detained in a maximum security prison without charge. On Tuesday, Mr Greste's Brisbane-based mother Lois had just one teary plea to the military-installed Egyptian authorities. Australian journalist Peter Greste (centre) in happier times. ""Please let our son out of jail,"" she said. Mr Greste's father Juris described the allegations against his son as ""absurd"." ""To think or allege that Peter or any of his high achieving colleagues would jeopardise their mid-life international careers by unethical or improper practices is completely preposterous,"" he said. Peter Greste's parents Lois and Juris speak to the media in Brisbane. ""Peter was posted to Cairo to relieve one of the local correspondents. ""His term was to be three weeks. ""He was to return to his current base of Nairobi a week after he was arrested. Australian journalist Peter Greste is being kept in solitary confinement in an Egyptian jail. ""It is absurd to think he would have any interest in serving groups which might be a deliberate threat to Egypt's security or might misrepresent events, as has been alleged."" Al Jazeera has also slammed the allegations as entirely false. Mrs Greste said her son, a former BBC correspondent who won the prestigious Peabody Award for a documentary he did on Somalia, was holding up well, despite being in solitary confinement. ""When you're a journalist doing this sort of thing, you have got to have a very strong character,"" she said. ""He's holding up very, very well. The reports we are getting through DFAT is that he is doing well."" Mr and Mrs Greste have had three short phone conversations with their son since his incarceration, they said. ""It's shattering to the whole family and a living nightmare at the moment and until he gets out the nightmare is going to continue,"" Mrs Greste said. For the first 15 days of his solitary confinement Peter was unable to leave his cell, his mother said. However, he is now allowed out for four hours each day for exercise. She said detainees in Egyptian jails were not fed by their captors, but representatives of Al Jazeera were supplying food to the detained trio. Mr Greste said his son was next scheduled to appear at a hearing on January 23, however it was not guaranteed that would occur. ""What precisely that will means is unknown,"" he said. ""From the information we have on the ground in Egypt, that in fact may or may not happen."" Mr Greste described it as ""horrifying"" that other Al Jazeera journalists arrested months before his son and colleagues still remained detained without charge in Egyptian prisons. He said authorities could hold the trio indefinitely without charge, something he said was akin to looking into a black hole. The couple said they currently had no plans to go to Egypt, with visitation restricted to fortnightly. ""When Peter rang, he said, "don't come over,""" Mrs Greste said. ""We think we can do more here to raise awareness."" He grew up in Brisbane and was school captain at Indooroopilly State High School.