The UK's ambassador to Egypt has been summoned by the country's foreign ministry over comments he made about the sentencing of three TV journalists.

John Casson suggested Egypt's stability should be built on freedom of the press after the three were handed three-year jail terms.

Meanwhile, one of three TV journalists sentenced to three years in jail by an Egyptian court is asking the country's president to pardon them.

Australian Peter Greste has already been deported and is unlikely to face jail - but says he fears for his two colleagues, in prison in Cairo.

In a press conference, the Al Jazeera correspondent called on Egypt's president to overturn the sentence:

Mohamed Fahmy, Baher Mohammed and Peter Greste were sentenced at a retrial for "spreading false news" and other offences.

Fahmy, a Canadian, and Mohammed, an Egyptian, were in court, but Greste, an Australian, had been deported to Australia in February.

Judge Hassan Farid said he jailed the three in part because they weren't registered with the country's journalist syndicate.

He explained that the journalists brought equipment without the approval of security officials into Egypt.

The three also spread "false news" and used a hotel as a broadcasting point without permission, the judge added.

Al-Jazeera English acting director-general Mostefa Souag said the sentence "defies logic and common sense".

"The whole case has been heavily politicized and has not been conducted in a free and fair manner," Mr Souag said.

"There is no evidence proving that our colleagues in any way fabricated news or aided and abetted terrorist organisations and at no point during the long drawn out retrial did any of the unfounded allegations stand up to scrutiny."

Amnesty International condemned the sentences, calling them the "death knell for freedom of expression in Egypt."

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney represented Fahmy in court.

Outside court, she called for Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al Sisi to quash the sentences and convictions.