RSF hails Shawkan's UNESCO prize, calls for his immediate release
| Publisher | Reporters Without Borders |
| Publication Date | 23 April 2018 |
| Cite as | Reporters Without Borders, RSF hails Shawkan's UNESCO prize, calls for his immediate release, 23 April 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b8504c94.html [accessed 6 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
April 23, 2018
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) hails the UNESCO jury's decision to award the prestigious Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to Mahmoud Abu Zeid, the imprisoned Egyptian photojournalist also known as Shawkan, and calls for his immediate release.
RSF had proposed Shawkan as a candidate for the prize. The decision's announcement is timely because Egyptian prosecutors have just requested the death penalty for this young photographer, who has been detained arbitrarily for nearly five years just for doing his job as a journalist.
The United Nations itself has described his arrest and detention as arbitrary.
"Shawkan is not a terrorist, he is a journalist and a credit to his country," RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. "Today we issue a solemn appeal to the Egyptian authorities to carry out his immediate and unconditional release."
