(MENAFN) Cairo denounced on Sunday UNESCO's intention to grant Mahmoud Shukan, a photojournalist and prisoner in Egypt, the Freedom of Press Prize, a denunciation that the photojournalist's lawyer described as "anticipating the judiciary's verdict," according to Anadolu news agency.
Shukan was arrested on August 14, 2013 while covering the Egyptian security forces' dispersal of Rabaa el-Adaweya sit-in (in the east of Cairo), wherein hundreds of people were killed.
Shukan's lawyer, Karim Abdel Radhi told Anadolu Agency that "There is no evidence against Shukan in the case and there is a legal norm that the accused person is innocent until proven guilty." He denounced "the Foreign Ministry's objection to awarding Shukan just because he was indicted in a case that has not been ruled for five years."
The Foreign Ministry, for its part, has expressed its regret noting that Shukan faces, "criminal accusations that have no political motive contrary to what some claim and are not related to the execution of the profession of journalism and freedom of expression."
It is worth mentioning that Shukan is accused of "unauthorized demonstration, attempted murder, joining an armed gang and assaulting security," however, Shukan denies these charges and is still being held in a Cairo prison.
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