The funeral of the late architect Omar Farouk, father of visual artist Laila Farouk, dominated social media platforms after the scene, initially intended as a solemn and moving one, devolved into a heated dispute between artist Amir Eid and press photographers.
In her first comment on social media, Laila Farouk expressed her deep displeasure at the violation of the privacy of the funeral and the disregard for her father’s professional legacy, stating: “Photographing my father’s funeral without respecting the sanctity of the occasion or even mentioning his name properly is the height of bad taste.”
Layla confirmed that her father was a major architectural figure, having overseen prominent engineering projects such as the expansions of the Sayyida Nafisa Mosque and the Sidi Abu al-Hassan al-Shadhili Mosque. She also revealed details of the incident, saying, “We asked the photographers to leave respectfully, but they refused. The request was repeated in a harsh tone, and even after the police intervened, they continued filming.” She emphasized that all she needed was a moment of peace to bid farewell to her father.
This comes after the artist Amir Eid, a star of the band Cairokee, trended on search engines after a video circulated showing him making an inappropriate gesture towards the photographers present at the funeral at the Hussein Sidqi Mosque in Maadi.
This act sparked widespread anger in journalistic circles, as photographers considered the gesture a direct insult to their dignity, and decided to collectively withdraw from the vicinity of the funeral in protest against what the artist had done.
