The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed deep regret over the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)’s honouring of the photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zaid, known as Shawkan, who has been in pre-trial detention since 2013. The ministry said that it was informed that the UNESCO is seeking to grant Shawkan the Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize and denounced the consideration of the photojournalist for the award. Shawkan was arrested while photographing the dispersal of the Rabaa sit-ins that were organised in 2013 to support Islamist former president Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood regime. He is involved in the case known as “Rabaa dispersal” that includes the trial of 739 defendants. The Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize was established by the UNESCO’s executive board in 1997 in honour of Guillermo Cano, a Colombian journalist who died while exercising his profession.

Source: Daily News Egypt April 22, 2018 18:22 UTC