Al Jazeera journalists mark one year in Egyptian jail

Monday marked one year since the arrests of three Al Jazeera journalists in Cairo.

Baher Mohammed, Mohammed Fahmy and Peter Greste were arrested on Dec. 29, 2013 while reporting on civil strife in Egypt. The three were charged with supporting the banned Muslim Brotherhood and, in June, were sentenced to prison — Greste and Fahmy received seven years and Mohmamed, a 10-year sentence.

Al-Jazeera journalists Peter Greste, Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed listen to the verdict inside the defendants cage during their trial for allegedly supporting the Muslim Brotherhood on June 23, 2014.

After the verdicts, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry described the prison sentences as “chilling,” and Amnesty International called the trial a “sham.” Since the arrests, Al Jazeera has continued to support the journalists and their reporting, saying that they were just doing their jobs.

“The Egyptian prosecutor has accused Al Jazeera of producing ‘false news’ in the country,” the Al Jazeera website states. “Here are all of the packages our team produced from the field since July 2013. We make no apologies for telling all sides of the story, and we stand by our journalism. Judge for yourself.”

On Thursday, Egypt’s Court of Cassation will examine whether proper legal procedures were followed in the journalists’ trial. The judges, which meet for a week every month, can uphold the guilty verdict or dismiss the case, which could open the door for a retrial. There is no deadline for a decision, however, so the appeals process can take up to a year.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi also possesses the ability to pardon the journalists, though he has said that he would not interfere.