Cairo: Egyptian journalists and pro-democracy activists have launched campaigns to show solidarity with a photojournalist due to appear before a court on Saturday to face terrorism-related charges.

Ahmad Jamal, a photojournalist with the online news network Yaqeen, has recently been referred to the newly formed terrorism circuit of the Cairo Criminal Court on charges of involvement in violence, subverting public facilities and assaulting a police officer.

Jamal was arrested in December 2013 at the Islamic Al Azhar University in Cairo where his family and backers say he was covering a student protest.

Egyptian authorities have recently toughened security measures and penalties as part of what it describes as a war on terrorism.

“The referral of a journalist to a terrorism circuit of a court is a precedent that exposes the scale of decline and collapse in the state of human rights and freedom in Egypt, including the journalist’s right to do his job freely,” said the independent pro-press group, the Front for Defence of Journalists and Freedom.

“Trial before a criminal and terrorism court cannot be separated from almost daily attacks to which journalists are subjected while doing their job.”

The group called for a symbolic protest to be held on Saturday to coincide with the start of Jamal’s trial. It also launched a petition campaign to advocate what it calls the “right of journalists to work freely.”

Meanwhile, activists started an online campaign on Friday demanding freedom for Jamal and other jailed journalists.

Rights groups have in recent months accused the government of intimidating the media as security forces pursue a clampdown on supporters of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi, who was deposed by the army last year following enormous street protests against his rule.

Six journalists have since been killed and dozens detained in Egypt, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

While most of the journalists have been released, at least 11, including three from Al Jazeera TV network, are still behind bars, CPJ said.

“The government continues to crack down on the press, forcing independent and critical voices into silence, exile, or prison.”

Egyptian authorities have repeatedly denied targeting the media, saying the country’s judiciary operates independently.