Australian journalist Peter Greste has taken court action to overcome what Egyptian authorities called a "legal obstacle" preventing him being pardoned by the president.
Mr Greste revealed the action in New York on Tuesday (Wednesday morning AEST), where he is lobbying political leaders attending the UN General Assembly.
Mr Greste's fellow Al Jazeera reporters Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were pardoned by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi just before the Egyptian president left for the assembly last week.
Mr Greste, who was accused of broadcasting false reports and colluding with the Muslim Brotherhood with six other journalists tried in absentia, was freed in February and returned to Australia after serving more than 400 days in Egyptian detention.
But he was not on the pardon list, meaning he remains a convicted criminal.
He told AAP his lawyer in Egypt had lodged a formal application through the courts and he anticipated Australian diplomats would follow up on it.
"The president has the discretionary power to grant pardons," he said.
"What the Egyptian foreign minister indicated to (Australia's foreign minister) Julie Bishop last week when he saw her was there was some kind of legal obstacle they need to resolve."
He said he had been formally removed from Egypt and so could not be in the country for the trial.
And yet the court had declared he was AWOL and did not allow him the right to defend himself.
"It was a denial of natural justice," he said.
Mr Greste said he considered himself and colleagues as having "freedom without being free".
He's also pleading the cases of four Egyptians and two Britons whose lives have also been affected.
Mohamed Fawzy, Alaa Bayoumi, Khalil Bahnacy and Anas Abdel Wahab work for different channels in the Al Jazeera network, and are unable to return to their home country of Egypt as a result of the court action.
Dominic Kane is an Al Jazeera English senior producer, and Sue Turton gave up her job as an international correspondent due to travel restrictions placed upon her by the case.
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