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UNESCO Journalism Award Goes to Egyptian Detainee despite Cairo’s Objection

Detained Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid. (AFP)
Detained Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid. (AFP)
    Cairo, Paris – Mohammed Nabil Helmi and Asharq Al-Awsat
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UNESCO Journalism Award Goes to Egyptian Detainee despite Cairo’s Objection

Detained Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid. (AFP)
Detained Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid. (AFP)

The United Nations cultural agency UNESCO announced on Monday that Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid has been awarded the 2018 Press Freedom Prize amid objections by Cairo.

Abu Zeid, also known as Shawkan, was arrested in 2013.

He and 739 others are charged with staging “illegal gatherings and taking part in displays of force.” They were detained as security forces were dispersing a rally in support of ousted President Mohammed Morsi in what is now known as the “Rabaa demonstration” that took place in August 2013.

Shawkan is still on trial and no ruling has yet been issued in his case.

Egypt’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday that the “nomination of the accused was driven by a number of non-governmental organizations, including organizations dominated by the state of Qatar, which is known for its support and continuous defense of the Brotherhood terrorist group.”

It revealed that it tasked Egypt’s permanent UNESCO representative in Paris to deliver a complete file on all the charges against Shawkan.

“Perhaps you have been following UNESCO, which intends to award a person who is accused of a felony, and which is supported by suspicious organizations and countries known for their support of terrorism,” parliament speaker Ali Abdelaal told the state news agency MENA on Monday.

UNESCO should not get involved in political issues, he added.

“The choice of Mahmoud Abu Zeid pays tribute to his courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression,” UNESCO jury president Maria Ressa said in the statement.

Shawkan’s brother, Mohammed, told Asharq Al-Awsat that his award is a message of hope that concerned international organizations are aware of his case.

Despite his condemnation of the foreign ministry statement, he hoped that the local authorities will listen to his family and colleagues’ demands for his release due to his deteriorating health.

He vowed that Shawkan himself will receive the prize.

The $25,000 World Press Freedom Prize was established in 1997 to honor Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian newspaper editor who was gunned down outside El Espectador's offices in Bogota in 1986.

It will be awarded on May 2 to mark World Press Freedom Day, UNESCO said.

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Arab World

Lebanon Says Israeli Strike Damages Hospital in Tyre as UN ‘Alarmed’ by Escalation

People gather at the site of an Israeli strike that hit near a hospital in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on June 1, 2026. (AFP)
People gather at the site of an Israeli strike that hit near a hospital in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on June 1, 2026. (AFP)
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Lebanon Says Israeli Strike Damages Hospital in Tyre as UN ‘Alarmed’ by Escalation

People gather at the site of an Israeli strike that hit near a hospital in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on June 1, 2026. (AFP)
People gather at the site of an Israeli strike that hit near a hospital in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on June 1, 2026. (AFP)

Lebanon said an Israeli strike hit near a hospital in the southern city of Tyre on Monday as the health ministry shared footage showing heavy damage to the facility.

The state-run National News Agency said a strike targeting an intersection near the Jabal Amel hospital "hit a building and the parking lot, resulting in a number of wounded".

The health ministry shared two videos showing damage inside a hospital ward, with rubble and debris on the ground, blown-out ceilings, blood on the floor and shattered glass, while smoke could be seen billowing from a fire at what appeared to be a heavily damaged adjacent car park.

The United Nations on Monday expressed its alarm and called for all sides to respect the ceasefire as Israel expanded its offensive into Lebanon, while negotiations to end the US-Iran war appeared in peril.

"We are deeply alarmed by the escalation in military activities across southern Lebanon and beyond," Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said.

"We urge all actors to respect the cessation of hostilities and avoid further escalation."

Arab World

German, Norwegian Ministers in Abortive Beirut Trip

Cars sit in traffic on a highway as residents flee following an Israeli threat to strike Dahieh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP)
Cars sit in traffic on a highway as residents flee following an Israeli threat to strike Dahieh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP)
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German, Norwegian Ministers in Abortive Beirut Trip

Cars sit in traffic on a highway as residents flee following an Israeli threat to strike Dahieh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP)
Cars sit in traffic on a highway as residents flee following an Israeli threat to strike Dahieh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP)

Ministers from Germany and Norway had to call off a trip to Beirut on Monday as Israel continued its assault on the city, the pair's press services said.

German minister for international development Reem Alabali Radovan and Norwegian counterpart Asmund Aukrust had to abort and head back to Berlin "for military reasons" as they approached Beirut airport owing to a "rapidly worsening situation," a spokesperson for Alabali Radovan told AFP.

The ministers had hoped to make the visit to show solidarity with the Lebanese people, but their German military aircraft finally had to land in Cyprus ahead of a return to Berlin, Norwegian daily VG reported.

A Norwegian government spokesman confirmed to AFP the trip had been scrapped.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier had called on the Israeli army to hit southern Beirut, saying they were going after "terrorist" targets.

On Sunday he had ordered the scaling up of Israel's Lebanon offensive with Israeli forces hitting positions of Iran-allied Hezbollah fighters.

"More than 3,000 people have been killed since March" in Israel's deepest incursion into Lebanon in two decades, Aukrust told VG by telephone.

"What is happening now makes it all the more important to show our solidarity," Aukrust added.

He said the Lebanese people "must know that where Norway is concerned we shall continue to fight for them and for international humanitarian law," he went on.

Alabali Radovan called on "all sides" to de-escalate the fighting and urged ceasefire talks.

VG reported the ministers had been scheduled to meet with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, as well as civil society groups and displaced persons.

Iran earlier stressed a ceasefire in Lebanon remained a condition for any Mideast peace deal with the United States.

Arab World

Israel Orders Strikes on South Beirut ahead of UN Meeting

Civil defense workers inspect the site of an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on May 31, 2026. (Photo by KAWANT HAJU / AFP)
Civil defense workers inspect the site of an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on May 31, 2026. (Photo by KAWANT HAJU / AFP)
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Israel Orders Strikes on South Beirut ahead of UN Meeting

Civil defense workers inspect the site of an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on May 31, 2026. (Photo by KAWANT HAJU / AFP)
Civil defense workers inspect the site of an Israeli strike in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre on May 31, 2026. (Photo by KAWANT HAJU / AFP)

Israel said Monday it would once again target Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold mostly spared heavy attacks since April, as it stages its deepest incursion into Lebanon in two decades.

The UN Security Council is expected to hold an emergency meeting later Monday on Israel expanding its operations in Lebanon, and the European Union called on Israel to "stop its military escalation".

Iran, in stalled negotiations on an end to its wider war with the United States, said a Lebanon ceasefire remains a key condition for any deal.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said they had ordered strikes on Beirut's usually densely populated southern suburbs, AFP reported.

"In light of the repeated violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon by the terrorist organization Hezbollah and the attacks on our cities and citizens", Netanyahu and Katz "instructed the army to strike terror targets in the Dahiyeh district of Beirut", a joint statement said.

Katz said separately there would be "no calm in Beirut" if Hezbollah attacks continued, vowing to establish a military-controlled zone in the area of south Lebanon's Litani River.

The Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman Colonel Avichay Adraee, posting on X, urged Dahiyeh residents to evacuate "to preserve their safety".

AFP journalists saw hundreds of families fleeing the southern suburbs, some on foot or on motorbikes, others in cars packed with belongings.

Hours later, a correspondent said shops were closed and the area's streets were largely deserted.

Lebanon was dragged into the Middle East war on March 2 when Hezbollah fired rockets towards Israel in retaliation for the US-Israeli killing of Iran's supreme leader.

A truce to halt the fighting in Lebanon began on April 17, but has never been observed. Both Israel and Hezbollah accuse each other daily of violating the ceasefire, justifying their attacks by the other's alleged breaches.

- 'Vicious aggression' -

South Beirut resident Hadi, 24, said he had hoped for some stability during the truce.

"That feeling did not last long... Our fears intensified this morning after I received a series of messages about orders to bomb the southern suburbs, which caused widespread panic, and we immediately left the area," he told AFP by phone.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a weekly press briefing that "a ceasefire in Lebanon is an essential condition for any deal aimed at ending the war" with the US.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said his country was facing "a vicious and reprehensible Israeli aggression", with the two nations set to hold a fourth round of US-hosted talks on Tuesday and Wednesday.

He called the talks "the only solution to stop the war with the least possible damage".

Beirut's southern suburbs and their surroundings have been struck twice since April 8, when huge Israeli attacks across Lebanon killed hundreds in minutes.

Israel's military on Monday also issued evacuation warnings for more than a dozen south Lebanon locations.

A day earlier, Israeli troops seized Beaufort castle, which commands sweeping views of south Lebanon, as the military expands its ground operations.

Israeli forces used the castle as a base during their previous two-decade occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in 2000.