Egyptian president says he will not interfere as Juris and Lois Greste consider their options after their son's seven-year jail sentence

The parents of Peter Greste, the Australian journalist jailed in Egypt, are yet to decide whether to appeal against his seven-year prison sentence as Australia makes a direct appeal to the president to intervene.

Greste, along with two al-Jazeera colleagues, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, was sentenced to seven years in a Cairo jail on Monday on charges of aiding terrorists and endangering national security because of his reporting on Egyptian unrest.

The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, said she was “appalled” by the sentence and the government was lodging a formal diplomatic level request with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, to see if he could intervene at this stage of the proceedings.

However, on Tuesday evening al-Sisi said he will not interfere in court rulings, Associated Press reported.

Speaking in a nationally televised speech during a military graduation ceremony Tuesday, he said Egypt has an independent judiciary and urged people to stop commenting or criticising rulings by courts.

"We will not interfere in court verdicts," he said.

According to Egyptian law, the president cannot grant clemency or a pardon until the legal proceedings, including appeals, are finished and Greste’s parents, Juris and Lois, are still deciding whether to appeal or put their faith in presidential intervention.

“We are devastated, shocked and dismayed at this finding. We are not usually a family of superlatives but I have to say this morning my vocabulary fails to convey just how shattered we are,” Juris Greste told reporters in Brisbane on Tuesday morning.

“Of course we were hoping for something entirely different. Although we considered a range of other outcomes, you can never prepare yourself for something as painful as this. However, we are absolutely determined and committed to continue this battle until Peter, as well as his colleagues, are all out of prison and free to do and go wherever they decide.”

In an emotional press conference Juris and Lois Greste revealed they had yet to speak to their son since his sentence was handed down and are considering travelling to Egypt to see him.

Lois Greste said a presidential pardon was one of the options but did not want to speak on the detail of it.

“Well, we have to consider all options and until we have all of those on the

table and have information about everything we cannot make a decision,” she said.

Both parents made the point that the jailing was about more than their son, with freedom of the press at stake.

“To us, it is not just affecting the Greste family. We put it to you that it is also a slap in the face and a kick in the groin to Australia as well as all fair minded people around the world. We seem to be at polar opposites on the basic things that matter in civil society,” Juris Greste said.

“... Journalism is not a crime or you should all be behind bars. It's as simple as

that. This man, our son, Peter, is an award winning journalist. He is not a criminal. He is not a criminal.”

Juris said he and his wife has been left devastated by the sentence and were taken by surprise.

“I don't want to – well, I don't want to suggest that anybody has been misleading us. But clearly the messages that we did get from the Egyptian authorities did truly give us great confidence certainly for other possible outcomes,” he said.

Bishop has ruled sanctions against Egypt at the moment while the prime minister, Tony Abbott, has said “megaphone diplomacy” will not help Greste or his colleagues.

“I am shocked given the evidence we have seen to date and I had been told on many occasions by Egyptian government officials that we had to respect the independence of the Egyptian judicial system that they had a strong and robust system,” Bishop told ABC’s AM program.

“...It’s clearly independent of the representations we have been making to the

Egyptian government but on the evidence we have seen we just cannot understand the court could come to that verdict.”

Bishop said if Greste was released it would show Egypt was on the path to becoming a stable democracy.

When asked if Australia would consider sanctions, she replied: “That is not a responsible call to make at this time; we must maintain a connection with the Egyptian government, we must maintain leverage, we must maintain our ability to continue to work with the Egyptian government, our ambassador must remain in Cairo at this stage so he can continue to provide consular support to Peter Greste.”

Greste’s family, who have been left devastated by the verdict, are consulting lawyers on whether to appeal against the sentence and Abbott said they were being supported by the Australian government.

“Megaphone diplomacy won’t do Peter Greste or his two Al-Jazeera colleagues any good. What we want to do is talk calmly, patiently and reasonably to the Egyptians about what’s best for the long-term interests of Egypt as well as what’s best for Peter Greste and his colleagues,” he said.

“In the long run it is best for Egypt if it is a full and acknowledged member of the international community and that’s what I want to see.”

The opposition’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, Tanya Plibersek, said she welcomed the foreign minister and prime minister staying in contact with their Egyptian counterparts.

“This is a case, I think, that has shocked us all. The length of the sentence – first of all, the idea that a journalist would be jailed simply for doing his job, and now the length of the sentence, have been quite shocking to Australians,” she told ABC’s Lateline on Monday night.

Plibersek said it was too early to consider sanctions and the Greste family needed to look at their legal options before the government started considering such actions.