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Jailed Al Jazeera Journalists Denied Presidential Pardon In Egypt

Al Jazeera Journalists Denied Presidential Pardon
By 

Deputy Media Editor, The Huffington Post

Defendants in the Marriott terror cell case in Cairo stand in cages in an Egyptian courtroom Monday, March 31, 2014, as they await their turn to speak about their request for bail. From left, Suhaib Saeed, a university student who donned a white t-shirt to cover one that compared his prison conditions to Guantanamo, Al Jazeera English correspondent Peter Greste, an Australian, Al Jazeera English bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy, who holds dural Canadian-Egyptian citizenship, and cameraman Baher Mohamed, an Egyptian. The three journalists are accused of falsifying news about Egypt and running a terror cell out of their temporary offices at the Marriott Hotel in Cairo. The judge again denied bail for the men, who've been held since Dec. 29. (Amina Ismail/MCT via Getty Images)
Defendants in the Marriott terror cell case in Cairo stand in cages in an Egyptian courtroom Monday, March 31, 2014, as they await their turn to speak about their request for bail. From left, Suhaib Saeed, a university student who donned a white t-shirt to cover one that compared his prison conditions to Guantanamo, Al Jazeera English correspondent Peter Greste, an Australian, Al Jazeera English bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy, who holds dural Canadian-Egyptian citizenship, and cameraman Baher Mohamed, an Egyptian. The three journalists are accused of falsifying news about Egypt and running a terror cell out of their temporary offices at the Marriott Hotel in Cairo. The judge again denied bail for the men, who've been held since Dec. 29. (Amina Ismail/MCT via Getty Images)

The Al Jazeera journalists who have been jailed in Egypt were denied their freedom once more on Sunday after failing to receive pardons from the country's president.

Al Jazeera journalists Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohammed have been detained in Egypt since December on charges of airing false news and conspiring with the Muslim Brotherhood. In June, the journalists were sentenced to seven to ten years in prison.

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a list of presidential pardons on Sunday to celebrate the occasion of Ramadan, the Globe and Mail reported. The three journalists names were not on the list.

Relatives of the journalists said that they knew the chances of a pardon were slim, especially after el-Sissi said in June that he would not interfere with the verdict.

"Unfortunately it’s not on the table,” Fahmy’s brother Adel said. “We knew it was extremely unlikely especially in cases of this magnitude and this nature."

Peter Greste's brother said Friday that he will appeal his conviction. News of his appeal came just after the court released a statement summing up the reasoning behind the verdict, which included claims that the three men were guided by the devil.

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