Filmmaker critical of Egyptian president dies in jail

The young creative was initially imprisoned without trial in March 2018 for directing the music video for the song 'Balaha' by Egyptian music activist Ramy Essam. The charges against him included being a member of a terrorist group, spreading false news, abuse of social media networks, blasphemy, contempt of religion and insulting the military. 

Balaha is an Arabic word for a date and a well-known nickname for President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, referencing a mentally unstable character in an 1980s Egyptian film.

Released on 26 February, the song was sung in Arabic with English subtitles. The lyrics criticised el-Sisi and called for the departure of the Egyptian leader due to poor economic and political conditions in the country. The video had more than 5 million YouTube views at the time of writing.

After the release of the song, Essam, who is currently exiled in Sweden, wrote: "We wanted to remind everyone of the right to speak, the right to criticise, and the right to dream of change. We wanted to start a dialogue about where Egypt is now and where it could be. Our art is not created to make people fight. It is music, it is how we feel. It is a song.”

Opposition parties in Egypt and human rights organisations around the world have condemned the government and called for an investigation into Habash's death. 

Popular Egyptian YouTuber Youssef Hussein wrote: “I cannot believe or comprehend that someone might take revenge on a youth by imprisoning him for two years without trial or medical care so that he would die in prison because of the art he directed."

The director of PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection programme, Julie Trebault, said: "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." 

Habash's lawyer, Ahmed al-Khawaga, told AFP that a few days before his death, Habash had been unwell and unable to eat or drink. “He was hospitalised, then returned to the prison yesterday evening where he died in the night,” al-Khawaga said. 

Late last year, Habash’s friends published a letter on his Facebook page, which he had written in prison, pleading with the public to rally for his release.

"The prison never kills, but loneliness does," the letter said. "I do need your support to avoid death. In the past two years, I tried to resist everything happening to me, alone so I can get out. But I can't any more. I want you to remind them that I am still in prison, remind them that I am forgotten and dying slowly, just for being alone."

Last month, Freemuse released the State of Artistic Freedom 2020 report, which ranks Egypt as one of the top violators of artistic freedom.