Sky for Shawkan

In my last blog post, I wrote about the Egyptian photographer Mahmoud Abu Zeid (Shawkan). In this post, I want to give an update on his situation and report about a new campaign “Sky for Shawkan”.  It would great, if you could join the campaign.

1. The photographer Mahmoud Abu Zeid (Shawkan) has been in prison for more than three years. He is not convicted of any crimes; his trial is still ongoing. He is on trial together with 738 other defendants. You can read his whole story in my previous post. The last hearing in the trial took place on 6 September. There are sadly no new developments. The court resumed the examination of evidence. They will continue with this task on 8 October 2016. Shawkan will stay in detention.
   Shawkan’s family, friends and supporters had hoped that he would be included in Abdel Fattah al Sisi’s amnesty for Eid Al Adha (Feast of Sacrifice). Sadly no journalist or other political prisoner was pardoned.
2. Shawkan said some time ago in a letter that he misses the sky in his prison cell. When he spoke with an AFP reporter during a break in a recent court session, he mentioned that his hopes diminish every day and reiterated that he misses being able to look at the sky. Kate (@Beerinwitsout) sent a tweet on 6 September in which she said: “@ShawkanZeid misses the sky. I took this photo 4him just in England but so want him to see real blue sky soon!”. The tweet included a photo of the sky.
   I thought this is a wonderful idea and it would be fantastic to have more photos of the sky for Shawkan. I put an Instagram post together in which I explained the idea and asked people to (1) take a photo of the sky, (2) share it on Twitter using the hashtag #SkyforShawkan and (3) invite others to join as well.
3. I am delighted that a lot of people liked the idea and joined in. They sent beautiful photos of the sky from all over the world. Some sent their tweet to the main twitter account for the campaign for Shawkan’s release  (@ShawkanZeid) and only included the hashtag #SkyforShawkan. Others wrote words of support and encouragement for Shawkan or sent a tweet to the Official Twitter account of the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah al Sisi and the Foreign Ministry of Egypt and asked them to release Shawkan. Many also sent tweets in which they asked their followers to join the campaign as well.
4. It is great to have the photos on Twitter, but I thought it would be wonderful to share some of the photos in a blog post as well.
   Here is a selection of photos which were tweeted in the last week. It is a picture gallery, if you click on one of the photos you can see them enlarged:
   
   

   Michigan, USA by @VeraSScott

   

   Nottinghamshire, England by @Beerinwitsout

   

   Burgundy, France by @Yas_KB1

   

   San Francisco, California, USA by @Beerinwitsout

   

   Kerala, India by @being_vishnu

   

   Oviedo, Spain by @MaribelLafuente

   

   Chicago, USA by @ahmed_abusaif

   

   Alcala de Henares, Spain by @LvarezMac

   

   Texas, USA by @MrMeanJoe and @roberts_lorri

   

   Sky by @asman_p

   

   Burgundy, France by @Yas_KB1

   

   Kotka, Finland by @RitvaJL

   

   London, England by @CiLuna27

   

   Australia by @blanketcrap

   

   Burgundy, France by @Yas_KB1

   

   Nottinghamshire, England by @Beerinwitsout

   

   Nottinghamshire, England by @Beerinwitsout

   

   Alaska, USA by @katestratton3

   

   Perth, Scotland by @DementedBonxie

   

   Kerala, India by @being_vishnu

   

   Burgundy, France by @Yas_KB1

   

   Alcala de Henares, Spain by @LvarezMac

   

   Indonesia by @HerryRodin

   

   Cuillins, Skye, Scotland by @Marji264

   

   Nottinghamshire, England by @Beerinwitsout

   

   Action, California, USA by @Damoney777

   

   Burgundy, France by @Yas_KB1

   

   London, England by @CiLuna27

   

   Nottinghamshire, England by @Beerinwitsout

   

   Germany by Simone Schwarz

   

   Montreal, Canada by @IsabelleCoteYUL

   

   Italy by @eradus2911

   

   Fryslân, Netherlands by @tietesijens

   

   France by @FreeEgyptPress

   

   Athens, Greece by @AnnaKarastathi

   

   London, England by Mohsen Tavoli

   

   Holland by @eradus2911

   

   Nottinghamshire, England by @Beerinwitsout

   

   Kerala, India by @being_vishnu

   

   Netherlands by @eradus2911

   

   California, USA by @CaroChronicles

   

   Italy by @eradus2911

   

   Kerala, India by @being_vishnu

   

   London, England by @CiLuna27

   

   France by @HussainMJawad

   

   Montreal, Canada by @IsabelleCoteYUL

   

   Toronto, Canada @Nikkijoune

   

   Germany by Simone Schwarz

   

   Atlantic Ocean, North France by @OmNico72

   

   Montreal, Canada by @IsabelleCoteYUL

   

   California, USA by @CaroChronicles

   

   Nottinghamshire, England by @Beerinwitsout

   

   Jesolo, Italy by @Kitzchen

   

   Switzerland by @eradus2911

   

   Zeeland, Netherlands by @Kath_74

   

   Castelldefels, Spain by @lopezborgonoz

   

   Cornwall, England by @Beerinwitsout

   

   London, England by Mohsen Tavoli

   

   Lake Orumih, Iran by @NickSotoudeh

   

   Boston, USA by @VeraSScott

   Thank you to everyone  who tweeted a photo and thank you for allowing me to use your beautiful photos in this blog post.

5. Please continue to support the campaign #SkyForShawkan and tweet your photo of the sky to @ShawkanZeid. Please also sign and share the petitions which ask for Shawkan’s release. You find the links to all three petitions in my previous post about him.
6. It is fabulous to have all this photos of the sky for Shawkan, but I do hope that he soon will be free and will be able to see and enjoy the real sky.