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Egyptian Journalist and Three Others Killed as Cairo Protests Turn Violent

Four people died during protests in Cairo against this week's mass death sentences and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's bid for the presidency.
Photo via Reuters

Graphic content below.

At least four people died in clashes with security forces in Cairo today, including a young journalist who was shot in the head while covering protests by supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi.

Mayada Ashraf, a 22-year-old reporter with the Al-Dustour newspaper, was killed as protests turned violent in Ain Shams, a neighborhood with a strong support base for the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

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These protests were the largest since 529 members and supporters of the organization were sentenced to death in a widely criticized trial earlier this week. The demonstrators are also opposed to Army Chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi who officially announced his bid for the Egyptian presidency on Wednesday.

The Muslim Brotherhood today described Sisi as "a murderer" and "the wrong man, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, in a climate certainly unsuitable for elections."

Egypt recently handed out the largest mass death sentence in its modern history. Read more here.

Muslim Brotherhood and army supporters blamed each other for the journalist’s death. Al-Dustour is known for being critical of the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi’s Freedom and Justice Party.

Abdel Kader Ismael, an editor at the paper, told local TV that there was no information about who had shot Ashraf. Ismael said that ambulances were not immediately able to reach her in the crowd.

In the last report she filed on Friday from the scene of the clashes, Ashraf mentioned that live ammunition was being fired.

Graphic images and video of the bleeding woman being carried away were quickly posted online.

Al-Dustour journalist Mayada Ashra was killed during clashes in Cairo on Friday.

Mayada is a 23yo journalist that paid her life as a price for delivering the truth.— Mariam Taher (@mariaamtaher)March 28, 2014

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) denounced the violence and called for an independent investigation.

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“A journalist's death should not be used to settle political scores,” Sherif Mansour, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, said in a statement. “The focus should be on journalists' right to safely cover events in Egypt."

At least four other journalists have been killed while covering demonstrations in Egypt since the army coup removed Morsi from power last July. Several journalists, including four working for the Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera, have been imprisoned on charges of spreading “false news” and ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which they deny.

"It's frightening on more than one level, the indiscriminate force used in quelling protests, the manipulation of the truth by the shamelessly biased media, and how people have been desensitized by the repetition of violent scenes," Nada Rashwan, an Egyptian journalist who said she is only two years older than Ashraf, told VICE News. "The brutal murder of a young woman in broad daylight does not seem to shock anyone."

"The first thing I thought of while watching the video of protesters hurriedly picking her up from the floor after she was shot was, 'that could have easily been me,'" Rashwan added. "I go to work every day not knowing if I'll get back home in one piece."

Information about the other victims was not immediately available. About one hundred people were also arrested on Friday around the country, according to Egyptian officials.

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The videos below show scenes from the Ain Shams protests.

Protests against the mass death sentence of Muslim Brotherhood supporters turned violent on Friday.

Follow Alice Speri on Twitter: @alicesperi