
Hope for Shawkan?
A journalist’s job is to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
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Mahmoud Abu Zeid, an Egyptian photojournalist who goes by the name “Shawkan,” learned today that his next hearing will be on Saturday, February 25, and that the court will inspect his medical records.
As the hearings in the trial of the more than 700 individuals detained in the aftermath of the government’s violent break-up of the Rabaa sit-in protest unfold, every so often several detainees are released for “medical reasons.” Shawkan’s deteriorating health began to qualify him for a release under medical grounds at least two years ago, but his detention continues, three-and-a-half years after his arrest.
Perhaps the news that medical tests were ordered is the break in Shawkan’s story that he and his international community of supporters have long waited for.
(The photo at the top is the most recent cover of the United Nations Association – UK’s magazine. Shawkan is on the cover of its “Facts Still Matter” issue, which was published in December 2016.)
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