CAIRO – 14 June 2020: Sarah Hegazi, an Egyptian communist and human rights activist known for defending the LGBT rights, is believed to have taken her own life in Canada. She left a handwritten message saying “I tried to survive and I failed.”
The Egyptian authorities in September, 2017 arrested Hegazi over raising the gay pride flag in a concert in Cairo. She faced, along with another activist, the accusations of joining an illegal group that aims at spreading homosexuality. She was then released on bail in January, 2018.
The Egyptian law does not explicitly criminalize homosexuality, but punishes those who encourage “immoral” acts that do not suit the Egyptian culture.
Hegazi, 30, moved to live in Canada after the social and legal pressure she faced after the incident.
Shortly before she died, she published a photo on Instagram and wrote: “The sky is better than Earth. And I want the sky not Earth.”
In her handwritten message circulated on social media, she wrote: “To my friends, the experience was hard, and I was too weak to resist it. Forgive me.” She also addressed the world, saying: “you were cruel to a great extent, but I forgive”.
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