Poet and lyricist Galal El-Behairy remains imprisoned in Egypt in violation of his right to freedom of expression.
Galal El-Behairy was first arrested on 5 March 2018 and served a three-year sentence in relation to his collection of poetry The Finest Women on Earth. Despite completing his sentence in 2021, El-Behairy was not released but instead presented with new charges.
On 5 September 2023, El-Behairy reached the maximum legal limit of pre-trial detention on trumped-up charges. He continues to be held without trial.
If it is your life that is being stolen, where can you go and who can you turn to?
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Background
Galal El-Behairy, an Egyptian poet and lyricist, has been held since 5 March 2018 and has reportedly been tortured and beaten in detention. He initially faced charges of ‘joining a terrorist group’, ‘disseminating false news’, and ‘insulting the President’ for lyrics he had written for the song Balaha, which was performed and disseminated online by exiled Egyptian singer Ramy Essam. The case was eventually dropped, but he remained in detention.
In a separate case, on 31 July 2018, El-Behairy was sentenced to three years imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 Egyptian Pounds by a military court on charges of ‘disseminating false news and rumours by writing a book containing false news and statements about the Egyptian armed forces’, and ‘insulting the Egyptian army by issuing a book containing phrases that offend the Egyptian army’. The sentence related to his book of poetry, The Finest Women on Earth.
In July 2021, El-Behairy completed his three-year prison term. However, rather than being released, he was instead subjected to enforced disappearance for three weeks before being charged with ‘disseminating false news’ and ‘joining a terrorist group’. He has remained in pre-trial detention ever since.
El-Behairy’s health is reported to have deteriorated significantly during his imprisonment, as a result of the poor prison conditions in which he is held and the lack of adequate medical care.
Galal El-Behairy has gone on hunger strike on multiple occasions to protest his ongoing and unlawful detention, including to mark the fifth anniversary of his arrest in March 2023:
Five years have passed .. five years if we tried to take them apart, they would equal 1800 days and more. This could be just a regular number among the numbers, but when it becomes leaves falling from your life-trees, it becomes demonic and frightening.
In the past, I used to know that if one’s wallet or car was stolen, they would go to the nearest police station and get help. But I do not know who would help [those] whose life is being stolen.
Today, I decided to practice my constitutional and human right to protest this inhumane situation by starting a hunger strike. First, I will refrain from taking food, my heart medication and antidepressants, and gradually I will refrain from drinking water.
The strike will continue until I regain my freedom, either alive or dead.
On 9 September 2023, just days after reaching the maximum two-year limit of pre-trial detention, Galal El-Behairy survived a suicide attempt. In December, PEN International learned that prison authorities had confiscated his reading and writing materials.
El-Behairy’s family has informed PEN International that his health has significantly deteriorated due to his imprisonment, poor prison conditions, lack of adequate medical care, and prolonged hunger strikes. He suffers from high blood pressure, joint pain, and heart problems, while his mental health has severely deteriorated in recent years.
PEN remains deeply concerned for his health and well-being. We continue to urge the Egyptian authorities to release him and other writers detained in Egypt immediately and unconditionally.
Photo credit: Private collection.
