NEW YORK: US nonprofit organisation PEN America has called on Egyptian authorities to immediately release poet Galal El-Behairy. The Egyptian poet, a statement issued by PEN America said, “has been held unlawfully since 2018 for exercising his freedom of expression.”
Marking five years of unlawful imprisonment for writing the lyrics of the song “Balaha,” Egyptian poet Galal El-Behairy has started a hunger strike in Badr Prison to protest inhumane conditions. He joins over a dozen other activists on a hunger strike in Egyptian prisons on pre-trial charges, reflecting human rights abuses facing writers, artists and activists, including arbitrary imprisonment and deprivation of medical care, the statement said.
“Galal El-Behairy’s continuing imprisonment and the revolving door of charges he faces–for writing a song–are an outrage, especially given that he has already completed a sentence on spurious charges. His decision to stop eating and taking his medication points to the cruel conditions in which he is being held, and the sense of hopelessness inflicted on him and other writers, artists and intellectuals detained in Egypt for their peaceful expression. Egyptian authorities should immediately release Galal El-Behairy, drop all charges against him, and end their retaliation against writers and artists,” according to Justin Shilad, Middle East and North Africa specialist with PEN America’s PEN/Barbey Freedom To Write Center.
“We are deeply concerned by recent reports that Galal El-Behairy is initiating a hunger strike after living behind bars for five years. All Galal did was pen the lyrics to a song, and yet he has been accused of terrorism. As the Egyptian government well knows, artistic expression is not a crime and Galal is not a criminal. He is an artist,” said Julie Trebault, director of the Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) at PEN America.
Egyptian authorities arrested El-Behairy on March 5, 2018, after he wrote the lyrics to a song by musician Ramy Essam, “Balaha,” the month before, and as he was preparing to release a book of poetry, “The Finest Women On Earth.” On July 31 of the same year an Egyptian military court sentenced El-Behairy to three years in prison and a 10,000 LE fine for insulting the military and spreading false news. Despite completing his sentence, El-Behairy remains behind bars in pretrial detention on separate charges brought by state security prosecutors of spreading false news and joining a terrorist group.