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Agence France-Presse

An Egyptian court handed a five-year jail sentence to award-winning photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid on Saturday and confirmed death sentences against 75 people in one of the largest mass trials since the 2011 uprising.
Abu Zeid, widely known as Shawkan, who earlier this year received Unesco’s World Freedom Prize, is however expected to walk free soon, his lawyer said.

Shawkan was arrested in August 2013 as he covered deadly clashes in Cairo between security forces and supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Mursi.
He was accused of “murder and membership of a terrorist organisation” – charges that can carry the death penalty – but has already spent five years in jail.
Egypt cracks down by arresting militants and tying them to Muslim Brotherhood
Shawkan should therefore be able to leave prison “within a few days”, his lawyer Karim Abdelrady said as he welcomed the verdict.
Smiling in the dock, the photojournalist made a “V” for victory sign to journalists.
But Abdelrady added that the sentence was still “unfair because [Shawkan] was only doing his job”, covering the events unfolding in the Egyptian capital five years ago.

The lawyer said he would launch a new legal bid to recognise the innocence of his client.
Shawkan was one of 739 defendants on trial in the same case, most of them facing charges of killing police and vandalising property during the clashes.
The same court that handed Shawkan a five-year term also confirmed death sentences initially issued in July against 75 defendants, including leaders of Mursi’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

They include senior Brotherhood members Mohamed el-Baltagui, Issam al-Aryan and Safwat Hijazi.
Of the 75 defendants facing the death penalty, 44 were in the dock while the rest were tried in absentia.
Forty-seven were handed life sentences, while 347 were given 15 years in prison, and 22 minors received 10-year terms. Five-year terms were handed to 215 people.
Egyptian court dissolves Muslim Brotherhood’s political body
The court also sentenced Mursi’s son, Ossama, to 10 years in prison.
On August 14, 2013, one of the bloodiest days in Egypt’s modern history, a month after the army ousted Mursi, police moved to disperse a sprawling Islamist protest camp at Rabaa al-Adawiya square in Cairo.

About 700 people were killed within hours at Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda Square where another sit-in was being held.
Hundreds more were killed in street clashes with police over the months that followed and mass arrests were made.
In relentless campaign, Egypt arrests Muslim Brotherhood leader
In a statement, Amnesty International condemned Saturday’s death sentences and “heavy” prison terms, resulting from what it called a “disgraceful mass trial”.
The rights watchdog called for a retrial in front of an “impartial court”.

It said the verdicts were “a mockery of justice”, since “not a single police officer has been brought to account”.
Amnesty and Human Rights Watch say at least 40,000 people were arrested in the first year after Mursi’s ousting on July 3, 2013.
Egypt’s courts have sentenced hundreds of them to death or lengthy jail terms after other speedy mass trials, including Mursi and several leaders of his Brotherhood movement.
Former armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi won the presidency in 2014 after leading the ousting of Mursi following mass protests against the Islamist’s rule.
Sisi won re-election with 97 per cent at a vote in March against a single opponent widely seen as a token challenger, with critics saying the president had carried out a widespread crackdown on dissent.


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Egypt

Egypt sentences 75 to death over violent anti-government protests

Supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mursi push over a truck during protests in Giza on August 14, 2013. Photo: EPA

Judge Hassan Faried, center front, sits in the court in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday Sept. 8, 2018. In a case involving 739 defendants, the Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced 75 people to death, including top leaders of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, for their involvement in a 2013 sit-in protest. Mahmoud Abu Zaid, a photojournalist also known as Shawkan whose case was embraced by rights groups, received five years imprisonment, meaning he will walk free for time served. (AP Photo/Roger Anis)

TOPSHOT - Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, widely known as Shawkan, mimes a photographer inside a soundproof glass dock during his trial in the capital Cairo, on September 8, 2018. - An Egyptian court on Saturday handed a five-year jail sentence to prominent photojournalist Zeid, known as Shawkan, who earlier this year received UNESCO's World Freedom Prize. Shawkan was arrested in August 2013 as he covered deadly clashes in Cairo between security forces and supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. He was accused of "murder and membership of a terrorist organisation" -- charges that can carry the death penalty -- but should be able to walk free after already having spent five years in jail. (Photo by Mohamed el-Shahed / AFP)

A supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and of ousted president Mohamed Morsi takes cover during clashes with security officers clsoe to Cairo's Ramses Square, on August 16, 2013. Backers of Egypt's ousted president pledged to stage daily demonstrations as they ended a day of angry protests in which at least 75 people were killed during the day. AFP PHOTO / VIRGNIE NGUYEN HOANG

Supporters of deposed Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi carry a protester injured during clashes with riot police and soliders near Rabaa Adawiya square in Cairo August 14, 2013. Egypt is in turmoil after security forces moved in to clear the protest camps of thousands of supporters of deposed Islamist president Mohamed Mursi on Wednesday, and violence spread around the country. Protesters clashed with police and troops who used bulldozers, teargas and live ammunition to clear two Cairo sit-ins. Egypt's health ministry says 623 people were killed and thousands wounded in the worst day of civil violence in the modern history of the most populous Arab state. Muslim Brotherhood supporters say the death toll is far higher, with hundreds of bodies as yet uncounted by the authorities. Picture taken August 14, 2013. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih (EGYPT - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 11 OF 29 FOR PACKAGE '48 HOURS IN CAIRO'. SEARCH '48HOURS' FOR ALL PICTU

This picture shows the courtroom and soundproof glass dock (bottom) during the trial of Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, widely known as Shawkan, in the capital Cairo, on September 8, 2018. - An Egyptian court on Saturday handed a five-year jail sentence to prominent photojournalist Zeid, known as Shawkan, who earlier this year received UNESCO's World Freedom Prize. Shawkan was arrested in August 2013 as he covered deadly clashes in Cairo between security forces and supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. He was accused of "murder and membership of a terrorist organisation" -- charges that can carry the death penalty -- but should be able to walk free after already having spent five years in jail. (Photo by Mohamed el-Shahed / AFP)

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Journalist who was covering the clashes and has been in jail for five years will be freed ‘within days’, his lawyer says


Egypt sentences 75 to death over violent anti-government protests

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Journalist who was covering the clashes and has been in jail for five years will be freed ‘within days’, his lawyer says

Journalist who was covering the clashes and has been in jail for five years will be freed ‘within days’, his lawyer says