Shady Habash, a photographer and filmmaker who was imprisoned in 2018 for allegedly mocking Egypt’s president, has died in prison. That yeat Habash directed a music video for exiled Egyptian rock musician Ramy Essam’s song Balaha. Balaha is a derogatory nickname for Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, which makes reference to a movie character known for being a compulsive liar, and though Essam asserted that Habash had no input to the song’s lyrics, charges were brought against the filmmaker after the music video was published. With investigations still pending on allegations of terrorism, spreading false news, abuse of social media networks, blasphemy, contempt of religion and insulting the military, Habash was jailed for two years without trial.
On 2 May, Habash’s lawyer Ahmed el-Khwaga told media outlets the director had died in Cairo’s Tora Prison, adding that the cause of death was yet to be determined. Ramy Essam, best known for his appearances in Tahrir Square in Cairo during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, also shared the news on his website. Essam published the last letter Habash wrote to him from prison, where his collaborator asked for support from his friends and acknowledged the danger of them openly doing so.
Activist Abdelrahman Ayyash alluded to negligence, tweeting, ‘Shadi got very sick in his prison cell, his [fellow] inmates cried for help for some time, but guards and officers had not intervened until his last breath.’ Khaled Ali, a human rights lawyer, said Habash should have been released two months ago as he had served the serving the maximum jail time allowed whilst an investigation is pending.
