Egypt : Filmmaker jailed for directing song mocking Sisi dies in prison | Middle East Eye
▻https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/egypt-filmmaker-jailed-directing-song-mocking-sisi-dies-prison
Mort pour une chanson qui se moque du maréchal président Sissi... Il y a 9 ans, on ne parlait que des « shebabs de la révolution » dans les médias du « #printemps_arabe ».
Habash, 24, had been in prison since March 2018 over directing a song mocking Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Ramy Essam, who performed the song, said Habash would be buried on Friday afternoon in Cairo.
(...) Habash and his colleague Mustafa Gamal were arrested following the release of Balaha, a song that indirectly poked fun at Sisi, the former defence minister who came to power after a military coup ousted president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Essam, the singer who performed Balaha, is currently in exile in Sweden. The author of the song, Galal el-Beheiry, is also in jail.
“Balaha” is a derogatory nickname for Sisi, in reference to a character from a classic Egyptian movie known for being a compulsive liar.
“O Balaha, four years have finally passed in disgrace / With all your gang boys to that darkest jail, I wish you may rot in such a place,” Essam sings.
A statement by Essam after Habash’s arrest said that the director “doesn’t have anything to do with the content and message of the song”.
Charges brought against Habash and Gamal include membership of a “terrorist group,” spreading false news, abuse of social media networks, blasphemy, contempt of religion and insulting the military.
They have both been in pre-trial detention pending investigations since their arrests.
Human Rights Watch has estimated that more than 60,000 political prisoners have been languishing in Egyptian jails since Sisi became president in 2014.
