Journalists remember British cameraman Mick Deane, killed by Sisi's snipers

Journalists and colleagues on Monday paid tribute to British cameraman Mick Deane, 61, who was killed four years ago while covering the Rabaa Massacre in Egypt.
2 min read
14 August, 2017
The veteran Sky News cameraman was shot dead by a sniper while covering Rabaa. [Twitter]
Journalists and colleagues paid tribute to British cameraman Mick Deane, 61, on Monday, who was killed four years ago while covering the Rabaa Massacre in Egypt.

The veteran Sky News cameraman was shot dead by a sniper while covering the violent dispersal of activists camped out in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square by Egyptian security forces.

More than 1,000 Egyptian civilians died on 14 August, making it the largest killing of demonstrators in a single day in recent history

A colleague who was standing next to Deane when he was shot told Southwark coroner's court in 2015 that he believed the British journalist was deliberately targeted by a regime sniper.

"I think he was targeted but I don't know why, he was no threat anybody at all," Craig Summers, 56, told The Guardian.

Egyptian security forces had confiscated all their safety equipment at the airport, including bullet-proof vests designed to withstand gunfire.

The news crew was only allowed to take their helmets with them.

Muslim Brotherhood contacts on the ground told the journalists that wearing the helmets would make them a target for government snipers, Summers said.

Numerous colleagues and journalists took to social media to pay tribute to Deane.

Sky News correspondent David Blevins wrote: "Mick Deane (24.09.51-14.08.13). The bravest of cameramen, murdered by cowards. Never forgotten. #Deano".

Tom Rayner, a Sky News correspondent who worked with Deane, wrote: "I will never forget what happened and what I saw that day - a massacre for which someday someone must face justice #Rabaa".

Mick Deane had worked for Sky News for 15 years and was married with two sons.

We approached Sky News for comment on the killing but received no response.