7 Al Jazeera journalists sentenced in absentia request presidential intervention

Seven Al Jazeera journalists who have been sentenced in absentia in Egypt have formally requested the intervention of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi in their case, Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday.

All seven defendants are part of the same case, in which Canadian Egyptian journalist Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed were recently pardoned, as part of Sisi's customary Eid pardon.

The seven were sentenced in absentia last August, along with Fahmy and Mohamed, to three years in prison on charges of aiding a terrorist organization and disseminating false information.

Greste was released and deported in February after serving 13 months along with his two colleagues, under the terms of a presidential decree that allows foreigners to continue their detention in their home countries. However, Greste’s name remained in the Egyptian case and he was sentenced in absentia.

Among the seven are four Egyptians who have not been able to return to Egypt since the start of the case in December 2013, along with two Britons and Greste.

“At a press conference today in New York hosted by the Committee to Protect Journalists, the group said that following the breakthrough for Mohamed and Fahmy, they also must be allowed to put the unjust convictions behind them through an intervention by Sisi,” Al Jazeera reported.