Egyptian journalist released from prison but will have to spend nights behind bars

Image result for Mahmoud Abu Zeid

Egyptian journalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid who was arrested in 2013 has now been released but authorities have given the reservation that he must
spend all his nights for the next five years in prison.

Also known as Shawkan, the journalist was detained in 2013 while taking pictures as security forces broke up a sit-in by supporters of Egypt’s ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi.

Image result for Mahmoud Abu Zeid

The violent breakup of the sit-in was a key moment in the turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising, as the military led by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi moved to assert its control after forcing out Mursi, Egypt’s first freely elected head of state.

Shawkan was charged with belonging to a banned group and possessing firearms. He was sentenced to five years in prison last September in a mass trial which saw 75 people sentenced to death and more than 600 others to jail terms.

Amnesty International said in a statement on Monday that Shawkan “should never have been forced to spend a single minute behind bars – let alone five and a half years”.

It described the requirement that he spend all his nights for the next five years as a “ludicrous” restriction of his liberty and said it should be lifted immediately.

He was for his heroic act awarded the UNESCO 2018 Press Freedom Prize.

Shawkan vowed to continue with his work, saying: “All journalists are at risk of being arrested or killed while doing their work. I am not the first and I will not be the last.”

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