The Death of Shady Habash: A New Crime Added to the Egyptian State’s Record

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

Yesterday, the Egyptian artist and photographer Shady Habash passed away in his cell in Tora Prison after being detained for over two years due to his involvement in producing a satirical political song by singer Ramy Essam, which was released in February 2018. In March of the same year, Shady and Mustafa Gamal, who managed Ramy Essam’s page, were arrested. They were charged with “joining a terrorist group, spreading false news, misusing social media, blasphemy, and insulting the military institution.”

Many activists and human rights organizations have held the Egyptian state responsible for his death due to deliberate medical negligence. Bloggers circulated a letter Shady wrote from his detention on October 26th, where he mentioned, “Prison doesn’t kill, but loneliness does,” and “I need you to remind them that I am still imprisoned, that they have forgotten me, and that I die slowly every day because I am alone against all this.”

His lawyer stated that Shady experienced a health crisis a few days before his death, during which he was taken to the hospital. However, he was returned to his cell the day before his death. It is worth noting that the maximum period for pretrial detention is two years, which Shady exceeded last March. He was not released despite his illness and the lack of legal grounds for his continued detention.

According to reports from the Nadim Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture, 90 cases of deliberate medical negligence were documented inside Egyptian prisons in the first half of 2019, resulting in 14 deaths due to that negligence.

We mourn Shady Habash for his friends and loved ones and hold the Egyptian state fully responsible for his death and the deaths of other victims of systematic medical neglect in Egyptian prisons. We affirm that the state is the first and last entity responsible for the deaths of detainees due to deliberate medical negligence, disciplinary action, torture, and other criminal means of abuse against detainees in Egyptian prisons.