Egyptian photojournalist Shawkan has spent five years languishing in Egypt's Segn el-Aqrab jail [Getty]
Democracy around the world is receding and a key part of this democratic recession is of course increasing attacks and restrictions on press freedom.
Every year on World Press Freedom Day, UNESCO awards the World Press Freedom Prize to individuals and organisations who have made outstanding contributions to the promotion or defence of press freedom.
The current laureate is the Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, also known as Shawkan, who has spent the last five years languishing in Egypt's notoriously squalid, brutal and overcrowded Segn el-Aqrab (Scorpion prison).
Shawkan's crime was documenting the 2013 Rabaa massacre, during which he was arrested.
After being held for over two years in a pre-trial phase, during which he was tortured and, like most inmates, held in unsanitary conditions, he was eventually charged with absurd offences such as 'joining a criminal gang' and 'murder'.
Within the context of Sisi's Egypt, this is not abnormal.