The Associated Press has been publicly criticised for describing human rights lawyer Amal Clooney as an “actor’s wife”.

Clooney represented Canadian-national Mohamed Fahmy in the Egyptian case against him and two of his fellow Al Jazeera journalists, including Australian Peter Greste.

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The case reached a conclusion on Saturday, but it was a tweet published by media outlet Associated Press that generated sustained criticism.

The tweet referred to Clooney, a human rights lawyer, activist and author, as “actor’s wife”, a reference to her September 2014 marriage to Hollywood star George Clooney.

Amal Clooney, actor’s wife, representing Al-Jazeera journalist accused in Egypt of ties to extremists http://t.co/i6nQg0xPg3

— The Associated Press (@AP) August 29, 2015

In response to questioning on the label, Clooney told Sky News if ever there was a story journalists would be keen to stick to the point on, it was the plight of three of their own prosecuted in the course of their jobs.

In the same interview she called on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to pardon the three journalists, who were handed a three-year jail term.