Held behind bars, Egyptian poet Galal El-Behairy survives suicide: activist

Egyptian poet Galal El-Behairy attempted suicide earlier this month to protest against his ongoing incarceration, but he was saved after a gastric lavage was performed on him at the prison hospital.

"My dear friend and creative poet Gala El-Behairy attempted to kill himself in prison on 9 September to object to unfair imprisonment," prominent activist Ahmed Douma tweeted on the evening of Sunday, 17 September.

Douma added in his post on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter, that he was informed of his friend's suicide attempt through a message delivered to him by Behairy's family.

الصديق العزيز والشاعر المبدع جلال البحيري حاول الانتحار في السجن يوم ٩/٩ احتجاجًا على استمرار حبسه الظالم وأنقذت حياته بعد إجراء غسيل معده بمستشفى السجن.
(الخبر ورد في رسالة منه لي عبر أسرته) #freegalal pic.twitter.com/d7oUtoE4Ll

— Ahmed Douma (@AhmedDouma89) September 17, 2023

Douma was recently released following a presidential pardon after he had served ten years of a 15-year sentence, reportedly due to his activism and anti-regime political activities.

In 2018, Behairy was sentenced to three years over "insulting the military institution" and "disseminating false news", among other terrorism-related charges.

Behairy was later charged in other cases, leading him to remain in custody after his term ended. Earlier this year, he went on several hunger strikes to object to his ongoing detention.  

It is widely believed that Behairy has been imprisoned due to a song he wrote that mocked Egypt's president Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in early 2018.

Behairy cooperated with musician and singer Ramy Essam, currently in self-exile outside the country, and late director Shady Habash to release a video song named "Balaha" around the time of Sisi's reelection.

In Arabic, "Balaha" means a date, the tropical fruit. It has been used for years as a nickname given to Sisi by his political opponents for parodying a character appearing in a single scene of an Egyptian dark comedy. The character personified an arrogant madman treated inside a mental institution.

The mention of the rather politically forbidden fruit has been shamed over the past decade.

Behairy was detained five days after the release of the controversial song and taken to an undisclosed location for almost a week to appear afterwards before the state security prosecution, exhibiting signs of alleged physical torture.

The song's director, Habash, died behind bars in 2020 after spending over two years in pre-trial detention for charges similar to Behairy's  

Neither Behairy's lawyer nor his family could be reached for comment on his current condition at the time of publication.

No official comment has yet been released on Behairy's suicide attempt.

In 2020, the country's censorship authority banned more than a century-old patriotic song composed by the iconic musician Sayed Darwish from being performed as part of a state-produced musical on his life and works, reportedly for involving a song on "Balah Zaghloul" (red date).

Dawrish's song historically refers to the late political leader Saad Zaghloul, who was banished to Malta by the British occupiers in the early 20th century. 

Local and international rights groups have frequently accused Sisi's government of overseeing the worst human rights record in decades, with about 60,000 political prisoners behind bars, many allegedly subjected to torture and medical neglect.