On 2 May 2020, Shady Habash an Egyptian photographer and director dies in a maximum-security Egyptian prison. Shady has been in prison for two years, in pre-trial detention. He was arrested in March 2018, after directing a music video for the singer Rami Essam which mocked the Egyptian military dictator, President Abdul Fattah al-Sissi.
At the time of his death, Shady was not convicted of any crime, but he was accused of joining a banned group, spreading false news, and insulting the armed forces. The cause of his death remains unknown. The night of his death, he started to feel unwell around midnight. His cellmates started banging on the door pleading for help. The door only opened the following morning. He was 22 when he died.
In the last letter he wrote before his death, in October 2019, he says:
