Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Middle East

Egypt releases prominent photojournalist after 5-year term

Associated Press
Published | Updated

CAIRO – The family and lawyer of a prominent Egyptian photojournalist say he has been released after five years in prison.

Mahmoud Abu Zaid, a photojournalist known as "Shawkan," was convicted for involvement in a 2013 sit-in protest by Islamists that was broken up by security forces in an operation that left hundreds dead.

His lawyer, Taher Abuel-Naser, says he was released from a police station in the Giza neighborhood in Cairo on Monday morning. His family confirmed his release.

Egypt under general-turned-president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has launched an unprecedented assault on journalists in recent years, imprisoning dozens and occasionally expelling some foreign journalists.

A court ordered Shawkan's release in September after he served five years, but he remained behind bars as authorities said his release was being processed.