Al-Hosseiny Abou Deif
Year: 2012
Nationality: Egypt
Killed by: Political Group
Location: Cairo, Egypt
Press organization: El-Fagr
What's Al-Hosseiny Abou Deif's story?
Abou Deif, a reporter for the private weekly El-Fagr, died in a local hospital after being shot in the head while covering clashes between anti-government protesters and Muslim Brotherhood supporters outside the presidential palace seven days earlier, according to news reports. Hassan Shahin, an activist who was at the scene, told Abou Deif’s family and the prosecutor’s office that someone he knew to be a Muslim Brotherhood supporter from prior demonstrations had focused a laser penlight on Abou Deif shortly before the shooting. The laser pen tactic had been used by Muslim Brotherhood supporters and police during protests to identify activists for harassment or attack, according to news accounts. Earlier in the day, Abou Deif had shot video showing Muslim Brotherhood supporters assaulting anti-government protesters, a colleague, Hossam Sioufi, told CPJ. (A number of reporters and others later published videos showing Muslim Brotherhood supporters beating, intimidating, and detaining protesters that day.) Abou Deif was himself struck by a rubber bullet, suffering minor injuries, earlier in the day. Abou Deif’s family and colleagues told CPJ they believed the journalist was likely targeted by the Muslim Brotherhood, and that one of his recent articles may have provided further motive. Four months earlier, Abou Deif had written a piece that said President Mohamed Morsi had included a brother-in-law in a mass July 2012 presidential pardon that encompassed 572 people. Morsi’s brother-in-law, Mahmoud Aly, had been serving a three-year sentence on a bribery conviction. Morsi didn’t publicly respond to About Deif’s report. Soon after, Abou Deif told his brother, Salem, and several colleagues that he was being followed on the streets and was receiving threats on his Facebook page from people he identified as Muslim Brotherhood supporters, according to CPJ interviews.
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