Sarah Hegazi

On 22 September 2017, Sarah Hegazi attended a concert for the Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila whose lead singer, Hamed Sinno, is openly gay. Hegazi was among a group of others who were arrested for waving a rainbow flag in support of LGBT rights.[21] She was charged with joining an organization in contravention of the law for the purpose inciting to acts of immorality or debauchery.[3] Her arrest coincided with Egypt's zero-tolerance crackdown response to end public support for LGBT rights in the country.[22] She was jailed for three months at Sayeda Zeinab police station where male agents incited inmates to beat, and to verbally and sexually assault her.[1][23] In an article published by Mada Masr on September 24, 2018, Hegazi recounted her arrest. She wrote that she was arrested at home in front of her family, and that during the process the officer questioned her about her religion, why she removed her hijab, and whether she was a virgin or not.[24] According to her account, the officer blindfolded her and took her by car to a location she did not know.[24] She sat in a chair gagged with a cloth with her hands cuffed. She was subject to electric shock and she lost consciousness.[24] She was also threatened that her mother would be harmed if she told anyone.[24] Hegazi was released on 2 January 2018 and was fined E£1,000 ($56);[3] after her release she struggled with depression, panic attacks and post-traumatic stress disorder.[25] Fearing further prosecution, Hegazi sought asylum in Canada in 2018.[23][26] Hegazi lost her mother to cancer one month after leaving Egypt.[27]

In Egypt, where homosexuality is not outlawed explicitly in jurisprudence, detention and charges are made on the basis of the 1961 "Law on Combating Prostitution" that sanctions debauchery and sex work. In October 2017, in the aftermath of the Mashrou' Leila's 2017 Cairo concert, a number of Egyptian members of the parliament submitted a law that sanctions homosexual acts with up to three years of prison. If convicted again, the convicts would face the possibility of being sentenced to imprisonment for five years.[3] The law update was used to crack down on Egyptian LGBT individuals even though the updated law made no allusion to homosexuality. The update authorized the police to infiltrate chat rooms and dating apps, to pretend to be gay men and women and ensnare members of the LGBT community.[28] According to the Egyptian government, the law was updated to address modern developments and to stop the internet and social media users from encouraging vice and the practice of prostitution. The LGBTQ+ community is posited as a national security threat by the Egyptian government, religious authorities, and political parties; this view is promoted by state-controlled media outlets.[29]

Sarah Hegazi happily on her bicycle in downtown Cairo

Paris vigil in memory of Hegazi, 20 June 2020.

There is a long history of LGBT people being erased and oppressed both specifically in Egypt and in the broader context of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This occurs through censorship, hate-speech, and government coordinated persecution.[46][47][48] Sarah Hegazi's death has been met with homophobic responses in the MENA region whether through government actions, media coverage, or public discourse, [49][50][51] An article on Raseef22 which discussed the LGBT+ community in Jordan and the Sarah Hegazi mural in Amman was quickly deleted after the Jordanian journalist received a flood of threats online.[52]

Amman Sarah Hegazi mural before and after blackout paint

Street murals and graffiti art commemorating Hegazi in the Jordanian capital Amman were speedily painted over after a social media uproar.[53] A journalist decried the act in a tweet saying: "...the Amman Municipality worked until the late night hours on obliterating drawings by some aberrants (شواذ, an Arabic pejorative for homosexuals) in some areas of Amman. I am surprised that this category (homosexuals) exists even though it is foreign to our customs and traditions..."[54] A spokesperson for the Greater Amman Municipality said: "Amman Mayor Yusef Al-Shawarbeh issued an order to all district managers to remove the murals."[54]

Egypt's Bedayaa LGBT Organisation reported that the death of Hegazi and the ensuing media attention prompted an online homophobic and transphobic smear campaign against her and the LGBT community.[25] Noor Selim, a transgender Egyptian man and the son of renowned actor Hesham Selim, blasted what he called societal hypocrisy and defended Hegazi's memory.[55]On 23 June 2020, two Egyptian lawyers filed a lawsuit against Selim for defending Hegazi, and accused him of trying to "spread homosexuality" in Egypt.[56]

Cheikh Rafiki, a Moroccan Muslim cleric, received death threats when he defended the memory of Hegazi from an online ISIL-related individual.[57]

On Arabic Wikipedia Hegazi's Wikipedia page was deleted, even though it exists in eight languages on Wikipedia, and instead it was merged as one of the sections in the "Homosexuality" page.[58] An Arabic Wikipedia community member explained their decision by claiming the "lack of sufficient notability of Hegazi".[58] Their decision angered activists, who accused the website of "bias", and it opened the door for discussions about the editing standards on Arabic Wikipedia and about the freedom of expression on the platform which is "open to everyone".[58]