On January 25th, 2014, Egyptian student Esraa al-Taweel took part in a protest to commemorate the third anniversary of the Egyptian revolution. Her participation began a series of downhill events for the young photojournalist. Taweel was shot at the protest, leaving her temporarily paralyzed. She disappeared in June 2015 following an arrest, later to be released in December of the same year, and was subsequently placed under house arrest. In January 2016, this was lifted.
Now, Taweel has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to purchase a new camera and other equipment, which she says were confiscated by security forces during her detention.
Taweel began the campaign on the site Indiegogo. On her page, she claims “When I was kidnapped, the state security took possession of all of my cameras, equipment and five laptops.”
She attributes the delay between the campaign and her release from prison several months ago to her health. “I was depressed for a period of time and couldn’t do anything,” she said.
Launched on May 14th, Taweel has thus far raised $4,550 USD towards her $10,000 goal.
Since president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took power in 2014, several journalists have been arrested in Egypt, sometimes under suspicions of creating conflict in the tumultuous country.
“I want to take photos again as I used to,” pleads Taweel to the camera.
