CAIRO — On Dec. 12, 2012, Egyptian reporter Al-Hosseiny Abou Deif was killed while reporting on clashes outside the presidential palace between protesters demonstrating against then-President Mohammed Morsi and his supporters.
It was an unprecedented moment. The country’s first Islamist president had issued a constitutional decree giving him sweeping new powers and stripping the judiciary of the power to challenge his decisions. He had also called for a referendum on a constitution drafted mostly by Islamists that opponents said failed to protect the rights of women and the media, among its other faults.