Australian journalist Peter Greste says he is still in danger of being convicted on terrorism charges in Egypt.

The Al Jazeera reporter was deported in February after spending 400 days in prison after he and two colleagues were arrested in December 2013, accused of airing false news and aiding a banned organisation.

Their first conviction was overturned on appeal late last year.

Two weeks ago, the judge hearing the new trial declared Mr Greste would have to appear in person to give evidence or be considered on trial in absentia, which would give him an automatic conviction if the judge does not accept the reason for his absence.

Speaking from London, Mr Greste said he hoped to testify via video link to show the Egyptian court he was “not on the run”.

“I’m not in Egypt because I’m trying to escape justice, I’m not there because the president ordered me out,” Mr Greste said.

“The only solution that I can think of, to give the judge what he needs to prove, to give the opportunity to give my evidence to appear before the court is by video link.”

Mr Greste said he had believed his ordeal was over when he left Egypt in February and was surprised to hear he was still named as a defendant in the Egyptian court.

Greste with his parents after his release. Photo: AAP

However, he said he had received no indication as to the outcome of his court case as he was being deported.

“There wasn’t any paperwork,” he said.

“The only document that we signed was a piece of paper saying that I was being released in good health and with all of my things.

“We’re kind of left in this legal limbo and the court certainly hasn’t received anything from the Egyptian government and they haven’t received anything from the Australian Government.

“As far as the judge is concerned, he’s got no paperwork to stick in the file that can explain why I was removed from the case.”

‘I don’t want a criminal record’

Mr Greste said that while his deportation meant he could not return to Egypt, he did want to fight the charges as he did not want the burden of a “terrorism conviction hanging over his head”.

“I don’t want a criminal record, period, particularly one that’s completely unjustified,” he said.

“Equally, I’m conscious of the fact that so many of the people who supported us, so many of the millions of people who tweeted and Facebooked and came out in protest for us, came out partly because of our personal situation.

“But also, because I think we came to stand for something quite important – the higher principles of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, as the rule of law and so on.

“I feel that we really need to keep going with this fight as much to defend those higher principles as to defend ourselves.

“So this is a fight on both those levels.”