The White House is calling on Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to pardon Australian Peter Greste and two other Al Jazeera journalists sentenced to long jail terms or to commute their sentences.
"We call on the Egyptian government to pardon these individuals or commute their sentences so that they can be released immediately, and grant clemency for all politically motivated sentences," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Monday.
The White House called for clemency after Secretary of State John Kerry - a day after visiting Cairo - called the verdicts handed down against the journalists as "chilling and draconian".
An Egyptian court earlier sentenced Greste and his colleagues to jail terms ranging from seven to 10 years, accusing them of aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood.
He and Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy each got seven years, while Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed received two sentences - one for seven years and another for three.
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"The prosecution of journalists for reporting information that does not coincide with the government of Egypt's narrative flouts the most basic standards of media freedom and represents a blow to democratic progress in Egypt," Earnest said.
"Perhaps most disturbing, is (that) this verdict comes as part of the succession of prosecutions and verdicts that are fundamentally incompatible with the basic precepts of human rights and democratic governance.
"We strongly urge President al-Sisi, in the spirit of his pledge to review all human rights legislation, to provide the protections for free expression and assembly as well as the fair trial safeguards that are required by Egypt's international obligations."
Australia is also vowing to go straight to the top of the Egyptian government in a bid to free Greste.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Monday she was shocked by the sentences.
"The Australian government simply cannot understand it based on the evidence that was presented," she said.
"We are deeply dismayed that a sentence has been imposed and appalled at the severity of it."
While Greste's family and lawyers consider lodging an appeal, Ms Bishop said the government planned to seek his earliest possible release.
