Marwa Omara, fiancee of Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy, speaks with members of the media at a court in Cairo, February 12, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

The Court of Cassation, the country's top appeals court, on Jan 1 accepted an appeal against the sentence, ranging from seven to 10 years, handed to three Al-Jazeera journalists, saying the initial trial failed to prove their links to the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been designated as a terrorist group.

The third Al-Jazeera journalist, Peter Greste, an Australian, was deported under a new law that allows the deportation of foreign nationals on trial in Egypt.

The three were arrested in December 2013 on charges of providing material support to the Muslim Brotherhood, and "producing fabricated coverage of events in Egypt" to support its aims.