Australian journalist Peter Greste believed he would follow in the footsteps of an Al Jazeera colleague and walk free from Egyptian jail.

One week before Greste was handed a seven-year sentence for reporting false news, Al Jazeera Arabic journalist Abdullah Elshamy was freed from an Egyptian prison without charge.

Elshamy had been held for more than 300 days and was released due to health concerns following a four-month hunger strike.

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Greste’s colleague Sue Turton, who was convicted in absentia, said the Australian thought Elshamy’s release was a sign of things to come for himself and another two Al Jazeera English journalists in jail in Egypt.

“They were crushed because they really had believed they were going to be set free,” she told US radio station WBUR.

Peter Greste and his colleagues in court.

“It really looked like Egypt had blinked at that point. It really looked like the writing was on the wall for us.”

The three detained journalists walked into the court room believing it was the day they would also walk free, she said.

“Immediately after they were in pieces.”

Greste and his Al Jazeera colleagues Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were charged with providing a platform for the Muslim Brotherhood and ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Turton, who is one of five other journalists outside the country changed with the same offences, says it’s clear the charges are political and not based on their work on the ground.

The Australian government hopes Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will issue a pardon to Greste.