An Egyptian photojournalist could face the capital punishment, if convicted, for taking pictures during a military crackdown in Cairo five years ago. 

However, an Egyptian court has delayed a final ruling in a case against the photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid (also known as Shawkan) and another 738 people involved in a 2013 sit-in protest that was violently broken up by security forces, one of the bloodiest events in Egypt's recent history. A judge said security concerns had stopped the defendants being transferred to the court and set a new hearing for July 28.

The case, which involves top leaders of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, including the group's leader Mohamed Badie, relates to a 2013 sit-in at Cairo's Rabaa Square in support of President Mohamed Morsi after the army toppled him.

Some of the defendants, including an award-winning photojournalist, could face the death penalty if convicted on charges ranging from murder to incitement to violence.

International rights groups have condemned the trial.

"The idea that more than 700 people could all stand trial together in one day, all facing the death penalty in what is clearly a grossly unfair trial that violates Egypt's own constitution beggars belief," said Amnesty International's North African campaigns director Najia Bounaim.

Mahmoud Abu Zeid, the 30-year-old photojournalist who was arrested for taking pictures of the sit-in's dispersal, is accused of belonging to a banned group and possessing firearms.

Several international rights organisations, including Amnesty International and The Committee to Protect Journalists, have repeatedly denounced Shawkan's imprisonment and urged Egyptian authorities to drop charges against him. Amnesty says he was imprisoned merely for doing his job as a photojournalist.

"We demand that all charges against him are dropped. We demand that the Egyptian government stops the suppression of human rights defenders who are being silenced simply because they criticise Egyptian authorities," said Amnesty International's Katia Roux.

Shawkan, who has been diagnosed with malnourishment, anaemia and depression, has written a letter from his prison cell outlining the abuses he has faced and how journalism in Egypt has become a crime.

As many as 1,000 people were killed when security forces broke up the Rabaa protest and another one in Giza. Foreign governments and rights groups have condemned the use of force to disperse the demonstrators.

However, Egyptian government has defended its actions, saying it had given protesters the opportunity to leave peacefully and that armed elements within the Brotherhood initiated the violence.