A pregnant Egyptian blogger threw herself from her first-floor balcony during a tearful Facebook livestream after accusing her estranged husband and in-laws of snatching her children and blackmailing her with private videos, it emerged yesterday.
Maggie El-Sayed Musaad El-Sherbiny, known locally in Port Said as a hard-working market trader who regularly organised bazaars, was in the eighth month of her pregnancy when she went live from her home in the Masaken El-Khalili district on Monday evening.
Visibly distraught and speaking directly to the camera, she named several people she claimed had turned against her. “I don’t forgive you, Sahar, and I don’t forgive you, Mohamed — my children are on your necks,” she said, according to local reports. She added that she had been awake and unwell since morning and wanted to address her husband — still legally married to her — along with others including Ihab Zidan, Sahar Lashin, Tarek El-Kahki and Ahmed El-Kahki.
In the stream, she alleged she was being blackmailed after private clips were sent by her mother-in-law and members of her husband’s family, and that money had been demanded to stop further material being released. She insisted she had done nothing wrong and had decided to speak out herself rather than remain silent.
Friends later told Egyptian outlets that prolonged disputes with her husband and mother-in-law had left her cut off from her existing children. One described her as a respected and successful local figure who “never hurt anyone” but had reached a breaking point under the strain. Moments after her remarks, she climbed over the balcony railing and fell. Because the apartment was only on the first floor, she survived, suffering abrasions and bruising, and was rushed to hospital.
Doctors then discovered her waters had broken completely. An emergency delivery was carried out to save the premature baby girl, who was placed in an incubator while her mother remained under medical care. Authorities opened an investigation into the circumstances.
The case has drawn immediate comparisons with the death of Alexandria blogger Basant Suleiman earlier this year. In April, Suleiman, a mother of two, jumped from the 13th-floor balcony of her Smouha apartment during a Facebook live after urging followers to “take care of my children” and speaking of gossip, false accusations and lack of support amid long-running family and property disputes. She did not survive.
Both incidents have renewed debate in Egypt over the pressures of contested custody arrangements, the personal-status courts, and the speed with which private family crises can play out in front of live audiences with little chance of intervention. Police in Port Said continue to examine the footage and statements from those named.
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