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As the Prime Minister arrived at the United Nations in New York, the family of jailed Australian journalist Peter Greste hopes Tony Abbott will remember his plight.
He was jailed with two colleagues in June in what is widely viewed as an Egyptian show trial.
The UN General Assembly meeting could offer Mr Abbott a rare face to face chance to raise the case directly with the Egyptian president.
Stefan Armbruster reports.
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"I'll read it to you: 'Like a diamond that can only be found, when all that surrounds it is destroyed, by being threatened with annihilation, we discover that which is indestructible within. Mazra prison, Cairo 2014."
Back from ten weeks in Egypt supporting their jailed son, Peter Greste's mother Lois reads from a present he made for them.
His freedom still seems distant but his parents' hopes hang on.
"Every hope in the world. It's purely a matter of when, and the sooner the better of course.There is no other way for us."
The Al Jazeera journalist was arrested last December with colleagues Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy.
All were convicted of supporting a terrorist organisation, the Muslim Brotherhood.
All have protested their innocence.
Peter Greste was sentenced to seven years in an Egypt prison.
The trial is widely seen as a politically motivated case against the Qatari government, that supports the Brotherhood and also finances Al Jazeera.
Since the appeal was lodged against Peter Greste's conviction, the family's campaign to free him has been muted but no less determined.
With Tony Abbott heading to New York for the UN General Assembly meeting, and Egyptian president Mohamed Fatah el Sisi also there, Juris and Lois Greste hope Australia's Prime Minister is just as determined.
JURIS: "Well I would like to think there is an opportunity to meet and remind President el-Sisi that while this matter, this case goes on, that Australian-Egyptian relationships can never be the same as they were before December." LOIS: "I would also like to say I hope he can ask that this be speeded up and the process through the judicial system is not delayed."
Mr Abbott's office says he hopes to meet with President el Sisi at the United Nations.
The family of Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy have asked Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to also raise the case with Mr el Sisi.
No date has been set for the appeal.
The Egyptian president last week said he will not intervene in the legal process but refused to rule out a pardon afterwards.
Facing possibly years in jail, Peter Greste has taken up calligraphy and has started studying a masters degree in international relations.
"He's incredible. I think he's settled to the fact that he's going to be in prison until this process is over and that he's doing his utmost in all sorts of ways to make the best of it."
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