Egyptian LGBT activist Sarah Hegazi dies in Canada, suicide suspected

“To my sisters, I tried to survive but failed, forgive me,” she wrote in a suspected suicide letter.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A rainbow coloured placard in the colors of the LGBT flag [Illustrative] (photo credit: REUTERS)
A rainbow coloured placard in the colors of the LGBT flag [Illustrative]
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Egyptian LGBT activist Sarah Hegazi, who was arrested and tortured in 2018 after waving a Rainbow flag during a Mashrou' Leila rock concert, was found dead on Monday in Canada, the country in which she sought asylum due to her persecution, Ynet reporter Daniel Salami reported on Monday. 

 
The Lebanese band Mashrou' Leila is famous for its innovative Arab rock music as well as for its lead singer Hamed Sinno living openly as a gay man. 

 
Hegazi, who was a communist and an LGBT activist in her native Egypt, was jailed for her act and fined 200 Egyptian pounds ($113). She viewed the current regime of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as “oppressive”. 

“To my sisters, I tried to survive but failed, forgive me,” she wrote in a suspected suicide letter. 

 
News of her death circulated quickly on social media, with Sinno writing about it on his social media account. 
"For your soul's freedom," he wrote. 
 
     
     


Related Tags
Cairo