Cairo: 26 July 2018

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) expressed, today, its adherence to the legal stance demanding the acquittal of its client photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, AKA “Shawkan”, who has been held on remand pending Rabaa al-Adaweya Sit-in Dispersal case for 5 years, and also the implementation of the law, justice and the acquittal of every innocent individual against whom there are no evidence to prove the use of violence, during the Saturday, July 28, hearing which is expected to be the hearing in which the court will hand down its verdict.

ANHRI also expressed its concern over the ongoing protraction of the trial, which in turn leads to the ongoing prolonging of the pre-trial detention, that has actually been used as a punishment against its client, who has received the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize, along with other defendants in the same case.

During its hearing convened on 30 June 2018, the court decided to extend the sentencing hearing of the case to the Saturday July 28 hearing; because the Ministry of Interior didn’t bring the defendants from prison, and to continue deliberations in the case which would lead to the perpetuation of the defendants’ imprisonment pending it.

ANHRI renewed its previous demand to clear “Shawkan” of all the flimsy charges attributed to him, especially in the absence of any evidence against him; as his lawyers had already submitted documents that prove his innocence, which is a testimony by Demotix media agency that shows Shawkan was on assignment to cover the dispersal of the sit-in. This is in addition to two testimonies of an American and a French journalists who were accompanying Shawkan at time he was arrested, before they were released and he became a defendant in the case. These documents prove that Shawkan was present at the time and place of the sit-in to carry out the journalistic work that was assigned to him. Furthermore, several photographs taken by Shawkan of some incidents prior to the sit-in’s dispersal were also submitted, to show that Shawkan has no affiliation to any political faction.

ANHRI recalls that not a single official or police officer was held accountable in the case of Rabaa al-Adaweya Sit-in dispersal, which resulted in the death of hundreds of people in nearly 12 hours, despite the high number of casualties. The suspects accused in the case were only from the sit-in’s participants along with some passers-by who were present there for reasons that have nothing to do with the sit-in itself, just like Shawkan who was there to do his job covering the sit-in dispersal’s incidents.

ANHRI said,”The trial of Shawkan, since his arrest on the 14^th of August 2013 against the backdrop of the dispersal of Rabaa al-Adaweya Sit-in, has lasted for nearly three years in front of the court, in addition to two years of investigations by the Public Prosecution, which is the total duration Shawkan spent behind bars based on unjust and illegal preventive detention orders. This means that he, and many other innocent people, have lost five years of their lives in a prolonged remand”.