Egyptian president hints at pardon for al-Jazeera journalists Peter Greste pardon hinted at by Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has indicated that Peter Greste and his al-Jazeera colleagues could be freed in the lead up to their appeal. PT1M41S http://www.smh.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-3kuml 620 349 November 21, 2014 - 11:08AM Beirut: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has hinted he is considering pardoning Australian journalist Peter Greste and his al-Jazeera colleagues who have been held in prison for nearly 11 months after being convicted of broadcasting false information. Caught in Egypt's campaign of mass detention targeting the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood as well as politicians, journalists, activists, students, and academics, Mr Greste was arrested on December 29 with Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy, al-Jazeera's bureau chief, and producer Baher Mohamed, an Egyptian. Human rights groups estimate as many as 16,000 people were arrested in the months-long government crackdown. Jailed Australian journalist Peter Greste pictured inside the defendants cage during his trial. Photo: Khaled Desouki/AFP After a trial that was dismissed as a travesty by human rights groups and legal experts, the three were convicted on June 23 of conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood - now listed as a terrorist organisation - and sentenced to between seven and 10 years in prison. Their appeal is scheduled to be heard on January 1. A presidential pardon "is something which is under scrutiny ... if we consider that this is in the national interest of Egypt we will do it," President Sisi told France 24 in an interview broadcast on Thursday evening. The Australian journalist before his arrest. Photo: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters "The decision to arrest those people was taken when I was not in charge - had I been in charge then I would have preferred to arrest them and send them back to their countries of origin in the supreme interest of Egypt and the whole issue would be over with," Mr Sisi said. Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has welcomed the reports. "If the president is now saying that he'll consider the pardon earlier, well then that certainly is welcome news, but we haven't been informed of that by the Egyptian government at any formal level, but we'll continue to make inquiries and continue to make representations to ensure we can get Peter Greste home as soon as possible," Ms Bishop told Sky News on Friday. In custody: Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed in court in Cairo. We'll have to see what this latest statement means in terms of being able to release Peter Greste as soon as possible, but we will certainly follow through as we have done every time that there's been an indication that there might be some movement on the part of the Egyptian government. At the heart of Egypt's attack on al-Jazeera is its strained relationship with the network's owners and backers, the tiny, oil-rich nation of Qatar, which has been an ardent supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and its short-lived president, Mohamed Mursi. Then Egypt's army chief, Mr Sisi utilised mass public protests to oust Dr Mursi from the presidency in June last year and proceeded to launch an extraordinary crackdown on his supporters, including al-Jazeera. Unjust treatment: Peter Greste's trial was dismissed as a travesty by human rights groups and legal experts. But those tensions have eased slightly following the intervention of other Gulf states. Qatar expelled prominent Brotherhood leaders in September and on Wednesday Gulf states announced an eight-month dispute over Qatar's support for the Islamist group had come to an end. Mr Sisi has previously refused to intervene in the al-Jazeera case, insisting that the independence of the Egyptian judiciary must be preserved. However, last week he issued a presidential decree that would allow him to repatriate foreign prisoners, raising the prospect that Mr Greste, an Australian and possibly Canadian-Egyptian Mr Fahmy could be deported to face trial or complete their sentences at home. It is understood the decree would not apply to the third al-Jazeera journalist, Baher Mohamed, who is Egyptian. Calling the accusations against its three journalists absurd, al-Jazeera has consistently demanded their release. In response to Mr Sisi's comments, a spokesman for the network told Reuters news agency: "The Egyptian authorities have it in their power to release our journalists. World opinion expects this to happen speedily, and for all three to be freed. with Dan Harrison