LGBTQ activist Sarah Hegazi death:#RaiseTheFlagForSarah storms Twitter
Toronto/IBNS: The death of 30-year old Sarah Hegazi, an LGBTQ activist, due to apparent suicide on June 13 in her Toronto apartment, has sparked affluence of support on social media, with many people using the hashtag #RaiseTheFlagForSarah in her honour, media reports said.
Hegazi was arrested in her native land Egypt in 2017 for waving a rainbow flag at a concert in Cairo, which had sparked three-week anti-gay repression by the authorities, in which she was the only woman arrested.
Following her death, tweets have been flooding in support of her and the torure she endured.
Her name was #SarahHegazi. She was assaulted & imprisoned in #Egypt for raising the #prideflag at a concert. She recently committed suicide.
— Reem Abdellatif (@Reem_Abdellatif) June 14, 2020
We #RaiseTheFlagForSarah ðŸ³ï¸ðŸŒˆ to send a clear message: Violence against #LGBTQ & women will no longer be worn as a badge of honor in Egypt. pic.twitter.com/vdIhzWU3Fy
Yesterday, Egyptian #LGBTQ activist Sarah Hegazi died by suicide in Canada where she lived in exile. She was imprisoned and tortured for months in Egypt after flying a rainbow flag at a 2017 @mashrou3leila concert in Cairo.
— Pride (@Pride) June 15, 2020
Today, we #RaiseTheFlagForSarah.
🎨 by @ArtQuuerHabibi pic.twitter.com/eKNf242Cj8
"To the world - you were cruel to a great extent, but I forgive you."#RaiseTheFlagForSarah https://t.co/WET8zzSH8S
— Ian Higham (@highamian) June 15, 2020
In interviews, Hegazi said she had been tortured by the Egyptian government for three months while in prison before she was released on bail.
Fearing her eventual prosecution, Hegazi fled to Canada shortly after and sought asylum.
In an interview with CBC News in 2018, Hegazi had described the trauma she suffered in prison including torture by electric shock.
Hagezi had said, "I want to get over it and I want to forget. But no, I'm still stuck in prison.
She had added that she still suffers from nightmares, depression and panic attacks.
After being separated from her beloved mother and younger siblings, who remained in Egypt, she was suffering from loneliness.
Although being protected in Canada from prosecution, she longed to get back to her native land Egypt to help not only her mother and sisters but numerous people who needed to be protected because of their sexual orientation.
"Home is not land and borders. It's about people you love," Hegazi said. "Here in Canada, I have got not people, I haven't family, I have no friends. So I'm not happy here," she had said.
"I don't want to focus only on my case, I want to focus on the hundreds of thousands of people that are in jail because they either have a different political standing or sexual orientation," Hegazi had said.
While reflecting on her dreams she had said that she wants "to free the world from capitalism" and she wants to finish her book about her experiences in prison and get it published.
A close friend, Ahmed Alaa, while still struggling to accept her death, promises to continue her life's work.
The two had met in Egypt and later bonded over their mutual interest for human rights for Egyptians in the LGBTQ community.
He was also jailed for raising a rainbow flag at the show, but later fled to Toronto as an asylum seeker and joined Hegazi.
"She was fighting a lot, but she just lost her energy," Alaa said, adding that continuing her work is "the only thing we can do."
(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)
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