AFP / Mohamed el-Shahed
People shop on roofed Khayamiya Street in the old
city of the Egyptian capital Cairo; A young Egyptian filmmaker
imprisoned for directing a music video critical of President Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi has died in a Cairo jail
A young Egyptian film-maker imprisoned for directing a
music video critical of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has died in a
Cairo jail, his lawyer said Saturday.
Shady Habash, 24, died in Tora prison, said lawyer Ahmed al-Khawaga, who was unable to give a cause of death.
"His health had been deteriorating for several days.... He
was hospitalised, then returned to the prison yesterday evening where
he died in the night," he told AFP, without giving further details.
Habash
was detained in March 2018, accused of "spreading fake news" and
"belonging to an illegal organisation", according to the prosecution.
He was arrested after having directed the music video for the song "Balaha" by rock singer Ramy Essam.
The
song's lyrics lambast "Balaha" -- a name given to Sisi by his
detractors in reference to a character in an Egyptian film known for
being a notorious liar.
Essam gained popularity during the
popular revolt against then-president Hosni Mubarak in early 2011. He
has since gone into exile in Sweden.
The video has had more than five million views on YouTube.
The
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said in a Twitter
post that Habash died as a result of "negligence and lack of justice".
Human rights groups have regularly highlighted poor prison conditions in Egypt.
In a Thursday statement, PEN America described Habash's death in custody as "a devastating blow to artistic freedom".
"With
Habash's death, (Sisi) has sent a disturbing signal to the rest of the
world: share views that I disagree with and you might face a de facto
death sentence," said Julie Trebault, director of PEN America's Artists
at Risk program.
Since early March, due to the novel coronavirus
pandemic, authorities have suspended visits and the work of the courts,
further isolating detainees.
"Due to the measures taken against the coronavirus, no-one has been able to see (Habash)" recently, said Khawaga.
Habash himself warned of his predicament back in October, in a letter posted Saturday on Facebook by activist Ahdaf Soueif.
"It's not prison that kills, it's loneliness that kills... I'm dying slowly each day," he wrote.
Fearing
the spread of the virus in overcrowded prisons, human rights defenders
have called for the release of political prisoners and detainees
awaiting trial.
According to several NGOs, an estimated 60,000
detainees in Egypt are political prisoners, including secular activists,
journalists, lawyers, academics and Islamists arrested in an ongoing
crackdown against dissent since the military's 2013 ouster of Islamist
president Mohamed Morsi.
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