Egyptian authorities released photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, known as Shawkan, on Monday along with 214 people who were sentenced to five years in prison.
Shawkan was arrested in August 2013, while covering clashes between Egyptian security forces and supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, after police and army units tried to disperse sit-in protests at Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.
Shawkan, along with hundreds of others, was charged with taking part in unauthorized protests, possessing weapons, and belonging to the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, which Morsi led.
His case gained international and local attention and he received last year UNESCO's World Freedom Prize for his “courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression,” while he was still detained.
The Egyptian authorities objected to the award and the Foreign Ministry presented a file with the cases against him to the organization’s headquarters.
Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal said at the time that UNESCO should not engage in political issues, voicing parliament’s objection.
"The choice of Mahmoud Abu Zeid pays tribute to his courage, resistance, and commitment to freedom of expression," said Maria Ressa, president of the independent international jury that selected him as a winner.
The photojournalist was put on trial along with 739 defendants, most of them charged with killing police and vandalizing property.
The released prisoners, along with the photographer, faces five years of strict supervision and he will be required to spend every night sleeping at his local police station.
The Cairo Criminal Court, which handed down verdicts in the case of Rabaa al-Adawiya, sentenced 75 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death by hanging, among them Issam el-Erian, Abdul Rahman al-Barr, Mohamed Beltagy, and Safwat Hijazi.
The court also convicted the movement’s General Guide, Mohammed Badie, and sentenced him to life imprisonment, along with 46 other defendants, who received the same punishment, including former Minister of Supply Basem Odeh and lawyer Issam Sultan.
