The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has demanded the immediate
and unconditional release of Mahmoud Abou Zeid, an Egyptian photojournalist
known as Shawkan who has been held for four and a half years, reports ITRealms.
This follows the request by the Prosecutors of a death
sentence for Mahmoud Abou Zeid, for merely doing his professional job.
Abou Zeid, alias Shawkan is one of the more than
700 defendants in a political mass trial in Cairo for whom the “maximum
penalty” – death by hanging – was requested by the prosecution on 3 March.
Arrested in connection with an anti-government protest in
Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya Square in August 2013, they are all accused
indiscriminately of charges that include murder, attempted murder and
membership of a banned organization (the Muslim Brotherhood).
“Seeking the death penalty for a photographer who simply
covered an opposition demonstration is a political punishment, not an act of
justice,” RSF said. “Shawkan’s only crime was trying to do his job as a
photographer. He must be freed at once.”
Shawkan was arrested on 14 August 2013 while on assignment
for the British photo agency Demotix, covering the use of force by the
security forces to break up the Rabaa al-Adawiya Square protest by supporters
of deposed President Mohamed Morsi. His detention is regarded as
arbitrary by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
Egypt is ranked 161st out of 180 countries in RSF's
World Press Freedom Index.
Ayo Midele/GEE
Pix: Mahmoud Abou Zeid,
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