Galal EL-BEHAIRY
Arrested in March 2018, he continued to be held without trial at the end of the year despite fully serving an unjust three-year sentence followed by two years in arbitrary pre-trial detention. He has reportedly been beaten and tortured in detention.
El-Behairy was arrested on 5 March 2018 at Cairo International Airport while attempting to travel abroad. 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, performed, and disseminated online by exiled Egyptian singer Ramy Essam. The song heavily criticised President Sisi and was deemed insulting to the president. This case was eventually dropped, but he was sentenced to three years in prison in a separate case for allegedly ‘disseminating false news and rumours’ and ‘insulting the Egyptian army’ in his unpublished poetry collection, خير نسوان الأرض The Finest Women on Earth.
In July 2021, after his sentence expired, he was subjected to enforced disappearance for three weeks before being freshly charged with ‘disseminating false news’ and ‘joining a terrorist group’ by the Supreme State Security Prosecution. He exceeded the maximum legal limit of pre-trial detention without a trial on 5 September 2023; however, Egyptian authorities continue to detain him arbitrarily (see Case Lists 2018 – 2023/2024).
In protest at his continued detention, El-Behairy has undertaken several hunger strikes. 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. His mental health has severely deteriorated in recent years and he has attempted to commit suicide. The family informed PEN International in December 2024 that El-Behairy continues to suffer from a lack of access to adequate medical care as Egyptian authorities have denied his requests for treatment for a tumour in his mouth, which is causing difficulty in swallowing and requires urgent medical intervention. On 17 November 2024, El-Behairy and his family members were subjected to invasive body searches after their visit to Badr 1 prison, to which El-Behairy objected. In response, a prison officer threatened to take him to the torture room, which has no cameras in prison Badr 3 and ‘do whatever he wants with him.’
PEN International has constantly campaigned for his release, including by highlighting his detention on the 2019 Day of the Imprisoned Writer and by featuring him as an emblematic case in the 2023/2024 Case List.
Galal El-Behairy, born on 27 June 1990, is a poet and lyricist known for critical views of the Egyptian authorities. Two collections of his poetry have been published: Masna’a El Karasy (The Chair Factory, 2015) and Segn Bel Alwan (Colorful Prison, 2017).