New Astoria Mural Honors U.S. Citizen Who Died In Egyptian Prison

ASTORIA, QUEENS — A new mural going up in Astoria will honor the life of Moustafa Kassem, who died last year in an Egyptian prison after a series of hunger strikes.

Commissioned by the human rights organization the Freedom Initiative and produced in partnership with Yalla Queens, the mural is scheduled to be unveiled Thursday at 8-01 Astoria Boulevard, according to a news release.

Kassem, a native New Yorker, was visiting family in Egypt when he was detained during a wave of protest-related arrests in Cairo in 2013 after a military coup. He died in prison in January 2020.

The mural memorializing Kassem is the work of New York artist Brandi Jones of Black Village Arts, who is using BEHR outdoor paint and chalk to create the piece. Jones started work on the mural Saturday.

It corresponds with a Freedom Initiatives photo exhibition in Washington, D.C., meant to shine a light on human rights abuses and figures of the non-violent resistance in Egypt and across the world, the organization said in a news release.