Cairo, February 06: An Egyptian journalist has succumbed to the gunshot wounds he received while covering massive anti-government protests in Cairo.
The 36-year-old Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud died on Friday after being in a coma for four days, the state-run al-Ahram newspaper said on Saturday.
Mahmoud, who worked for the newspaper al-Taawun, an affiliate of the al-Ahram publishing house, was taking photographs of fighting between protesters and security forces from the balcony of his flat near Liberation Square when he was shot by sniper fire on January 28. His death is the first reported fatality of a reporter in the Egyptian revolution.
Journalists from Brazil, France, Poland, Russia, Britain, the United States, and other countries have recently been detained in Egypt.
A Swedish TV reporter is in critical condition at a Cairo hospital after being stabbed in the back during Thursday’s protests.
On Friday, the Cairo offices of the Qatar-based al-Jazeera satellite network were burned along with the equipment inside.
Polish public broadcaster TVP withdrew its correspondents from Egypt on Friday over concerns for their safety.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Friday called on the Egyptian authorities to free all journalists and human rights activists arrested for coverage of the revolution in the country.
On Saturday, millions of people gathered in Cairo’s Liberation Square, which has been a focal point for demonstrators, as well as in other cities for the twelfth consecutive day, chanting anti-government slogans.
The rallies were largely peaceful. However, sporadic gunfire and street battles between protesters and government forces were reported in Cairo.
Hundreds of thousands of people have expressed solidarity with the Egyptians at demonstrations around the world and have called on embattled President Hosni Mubarak to immediately relinquish power.
On Friday, millions gathered in Cairo for what they called the “Day of Departure” for the long-time ruler. The demonstration continued into the night, in defiance of a curfew.
According to the United Nations, about 300 people have been killed and thousands of others have been injured in clashes between security forces and protesters in Cairo and other Egyptian cities.
——–Agencies