Prime Minister Tony Abbott and US President Barack Obama each had individual meetings with Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi about the plight of Australian journalist Peter Greste, locked up for seven years in an Egyptian jail for essentially doing his job.

“The president expressed his view that those journalists should be released,” President Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, confirmed.

With world leaders gathered in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, Abbott and Obama took advantage of a rare opportunity to have face-to-face chats at the sidelines of the General Assembly.  Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also raised the case with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry.  Earlier, Greste’s parents called on the PM to raise the issue with al-Sisi.

The Prime Minister is hoping for the best.

“The impression I have of him is that he appears to be a decent man of good values that appreciates that free – or at least ‘free-ish’ speech – is very important, even in Egypt,” Abbott told ABC Radio.

Jailed since last December, the Egyptian court in June convicted Peter Greste and two Al Jazeera colleagues of spreading false news and helping the banned Muslim Brotherhood with their reports.  The trial was roundly condemned as a “farce”.