Al-Jazeera journalists plead not guilty

"It's physically fine, but psychologically unbearable," Mohammed Fahmy whose arm hung in a sling because of an injury in his shoulder sustained before his arrest, shouted. He said that his injured shoulder worsened when he was handcuffed and forced to sleep on the floor.

"We are strong," he said to the reporters in a makeshift courtroom set up at a police institute south of Cairo.

The trial was adjourned until March 5 after nearly a 40-minute hearing in which all the defendants pleaded not guilty. If found guilty, the defendants could face sentences ranging from one year for fabricating images to 15 years for belonging to a terrorist group.

Human Rights Watch issued a statement calling the charges against the Al-Jazeera reporters politicized and criticizing Egypt's record on freedom of expression.