Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said he wished the imprisoned Al Jazeera journalists had been deported instead of having been put on trial and found guilty of aiding the banned Muslim Brotherhood.  The comments sparked hope for Peter Greste’s family.

Greste and fellow al Jazeera journalists Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were ordered jailed for seven or more years.  Al-Sisi told Egyptian reporters that he “wished they were deported right after they were arrested instead of getting put on trial”, and that the sentences “had very negative effects”.  Al-Sisi did not mentioned the journalists by name.

Initially, the Egyptian president suggested he would not get involved in the case nor would be second-guess the judiciary.  But the new comments are being taken as a hint that he might use his presidential power to pardon the journalists.

“I’m sure images of Peter in the cage in the court are not images Egypt really wants distributed around the world,” said Peter’s brother Andrew Greste.  “And the publicity they're getting out of this I'm sure is not the publicity any country would want.”