CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday that he told Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi that a jailed Australian journalist is innocent of charges that he supported the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.


Abbott, a former journalist, said he raised Greste's case in a conversation with the newly appointed Egyptian leader on the weekend.




"In the end, it is up to the Egyptian justice system to do its job," Abbott said.

"I did my best to put it to the president that as an Australian journalist, Peter Greste would not have been taking sides. He would have simply been reporting on the events that he saw before him. He certainly would have had no interest in promoting the Muslim Brotherhood," he said.


Greste and his Egyptian colleagues, Abdullah Elshamy and Baher Mohammed, have pleaded not guilty to terrorism-related charges that allege they provided a platform for the Brotherhood and Morsi.

The case has caused an outcry among journalists and rights groups, who say the prosecution of the journalists was politicized and undermines freedom of expression in Egypt.