Tue 28 July 2020:
A court in Egypt has sentenced five young women to two years in prison for posting “indecent videos” on the video-sharing app TikTok.
The women – who have not all been named – were fined almost 300,000 Egyptian pounds ($18,750) for each defendant, the source noted.
The verdict against Haneen Hossam, Mowada al-Adham and three others came after they had posted footage on video-sharing app TikTok.
Haneen Hossam, 20, a Cairo University student, was charged for encouraging young women to meet men through a video app and build friendships with them, receiving a fee according to the number of followers watching these chats.
Mawada al-Adham, a TikTok and Instagram influencer with at least two million followers, was accused of publishing indecent photos and videos on social media.
(1) Today, you’ll find many tweeting #بعد_اذن_الاسرة_المصرية. They started at 1 pm (Cairo time) & will continue through the day to raise attention ahead of 2 expected verdicts this week for 3 Egyptian female TikTok users: Haneen Hosam & Mawada El-Adham (7/27) & Manar Samy (7/29). pic.twitter.com/fxoTvRewmN
— Mai El-Sadany (@maitelsadany) July 26, 2020
The three other women were charged with helping Hossam and Al-Adham manage their social media accounts, according to the public prosecution.
Hossam was arrested in April after posting a three-minute clip telling her 1.3 million followers that girls could make money by working with her.
In May, authorities arrested Adham who had posted satirical videos on TikTok and Instagram.
Lawyer el-Bahkeri said the young women were facing separate charges over the sources of their funds.
‘Dangerous indicator’
Internet penetration has reached more than 40 percent of Egypt’s youthful population of more than 100 million.
“The verdict is shocking, though it was expected. We will see what happens on appeal,” said women’s rights lawyer Intissar al-Saeed.
Several rights activists took to social media to condemn the arrests.
A hashtag trending in Arabic that translates to “with the permission of the Egyptian family” was widely used in an online social media campaign to draw attention to the case and demanded the release of the women influencers.
A petition was also launched on Change.org demanding the release of the influencers with more than 1500 signatures.
“We are a group of women calling on state authorities to stop targeting women on TikTok. We call on the National Council for Women to provide legal support for Haneen Hossam, Mawada El-Adham, Menna AbdelAziz, Sherry Hanem, Nora Hesham, Manar Samy, Reenad Emad, Hadeer Hady, and Bassant Mohamed,” the petition said.
TikTok’s popularity in Egypt has skyrocketed in recent months, especially following the restrictions on movement imposed by the government to curb the spread of Covid-19, reports say.
