<sod >âI did my best to put it to the president that as an Australian journalist, Peter Greste would not have been taking sides.< eod>< sod > Then, Abbott said: "I did my best to put it to the president that as an Australian journalist, Peter Greste would not have been taking sides. He would have simply been reporting on the events that he saw before him. He certainly would have had no interest in promoting the Muslim Brotherhood." International observers have accused the Egyptian government of allowing the journalists to get caught up in the political row between it and Qatar, which funds Al-Jazeera.< eod>