The al-Jazeera journalist and his colleagues have been found guilty by an Egyptian court of conspiring to falsify news to defame Egypt.
Speaking at a press conference, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said, “The Australian government is shocked at the verdict in the Peter Greste case.”
She said she had spoken to Greste’s family, and they were “devastated”.
“They are devastated as you’d expect, they were hoping there’d be a positive outcome… that was the hope they held,” she said.
Greste’s Queensland-based parents, Juris and Lois, have been prominent advocates for their son since he was arrested on December 29, 2013. His brothers, Michael and Andrew, have both spent extensive periods in Cairo to support their brother through the trial process.
Speaking after Greste was denied bail for the second time in April, Peter’s father compared the family’s suffering to “psychological torture.”
“I don’t want to start debates about torture, what is torture, but really, this process is a form of psychological torture to the extended family,” Juris said.
Asked on ABC radio last week whether the family had prepared themselves for “other possibilities” outside of Peter’s release Juris said, “They’re sort of possibilities that you really can’t prepare yourself for.”
“Yes, we, we don’t really want to think too hard about that, although we know that that is possible,” Lois said.
The Foreign Minister has confirmed the Australian government will initiate contact at the highest level.
“We are all shocked by this verdict and that includes the Prime Minister,” Ms Bishop said.
“We are deeply dismayed by the fact that a sentence has been imposed and we are appalled by the severity of it.
“The Australian government cannot simply understand it based on the evidence that was presented.
“Peter Greste is a well-respected Australian journalist. He was not there to support the Muslim Brotherhood.”
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