CAIRO (AP) — Three Al-Jazeera journalists pleaded not guilty Thursday and shouted from the dock that their prison conditions are “psychologically unbearable” as they went on trial with several other defendants, on terror charges.

The high-profile case — with journalists charged under anti-terror laws for the first time in Egypt — underlined the tug of war between the military-backed government and the Qatari-based network criticized for its coverage of the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and the crackdown against his Muslim Brotherhood.