No freedom, but hope for journalists jailed in Egypt

CAIRO -- An Egyptian appeals court ordered a trial Thursday in the case of three imprisoned Al Jazeera English journalists.

The decision by Egypt's Court of Cassation that lasted only a few minutes. However, Canadian-Egyptian Mohammed Fahmy, Australian journalist Peter Greste and Egyptian Baher Mohammed, who have been held their arrest December 2013, were not granted bail.

The three journalists did not attend the brief hearing that began around 9 a.m. local time (0700 GMT, 2 a.m. EST) in Cairo. Reporters gathered to report on the hearing were not allowed in for those arguments, but later entered the court.

Defense lawyer Negad Al-Borai told journalists after the hearing that he hoped for a "happy end" to the case.

"The court has the right to release them today," he said. The court's decision not to grant the men bail, however, means they will likely remain in prison until their retrial. CBS News' Alex Ortiz reports that the new trial is expected to get underway within about a month and that would bring the next opportunity for a bail request to be granted.

Later Thursday, Fahmy, speaking through his family, told CBS News that he has applied for deportation, Ortiz reports. Greste's parents told the Guardian newspaper that they will be also filing a deportation request.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has the power to pardon or deport the foreigners under a new law, regardless of the appeal process. That would allow Greste to go home and would allow Fahmy to go to Canada if he drops his Egyptian nationality. Mohammed's case would remain more uncertain as he holds only Egyptian citizenship.

"Now all we're focusing on is the deportation," Fahmy told CBS News through his family.

Greste's parents Lois and Juris attended Thursday's court session, accompanied by Australian diplomats. Ortiz reports they were visibly shaken when the decision was announced.

"We're shocked, we're shocked," the father was heard saying, while his wife told those around her the family would "need some time to process" the decision, adding that it was "not as positive as we had hoped."

Fahmy and Greste were sentenced to seven years in prison, while Mohammed got 10 years -- three more because he was found with a spent bullet casing. Rights groups dismissed the trial as a sham and foreign countries, including the U.S., expressed their concern over the journalists' detention.

Authorities accused Qatar-based Al Jazeera of acting as a mouthpiece for the Brotherhood. The station denied the accusations and said the journalists were doing their job.

At trial, prosecutors offered no evidence backing accusations the three falsified footage to foment unrest. Instead, they showed edited news reports by the journalists, including Islamist protests and interviews with politicians. Other footage submitted as evidence had nothing to do with the case, including a report on a veterinary hospital and Greste's past reports out of Africa.

The Court of Cassation, Egypt's highest appeal tribunal, will review the lower court's proceedings, not the case itself. It can uphold the previous verdict or order a retrial.

A recent thaw in relations between Qatar and Egypt has seen Al-Jazeera shut down its Egyptian affiliate, which dedicated much of its coverage to Islamist protests since Morsi's overthrow. El-Sissi said last month a presidential pardon for the three was being "examined" and would be granted only if it was "appropriate for Egyptian national security."

CBS News' Elizabeth Palmer reported Wednesday that diplomats say privately the three journalists have been used a pawns by the Egyptian government to goad Qatar -- a nation with which Cairo has had frosty relation for years -- and the first trial was seen as a shambolic miscarriage of justice.

Adel Fahmy, Mohamed's brother, said defense lawyers had told him the courts were likely to fast-track the case given all the attention it has attracted.

"We were banking on a retrial with a release," Adel Fahmy told reporters. "I'm hoping the reconciliation efforts continue between Egypt and Qatar, because they are professional, award-winning journalists who should not be caught in a remote conflict between two nations. They have no part in it."