World1 min(s) read
Published 16:41 01 Aug 2020 GMT
Per Al Jazeera, an Egyptian court has sentenced five female social media influencers to two years in jail each on charges of violating public morals.
This comes after Haneen Hossam, Mowada al-Adham and three others posted footage on popular video-sharing app, TikTok.
According to the publication, the ruling, which can be appealed, included a fine of 300,000 Egyptian pounds ($18,750) for each defendant.
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Haneen Hossam, who is 20-years-old and a Cairo University student, was charged for purportedly encouraging young women to meet men through a video app and build friendships with them. She received a fee according to the number of followers watching these chats.
TikTok and Instagram influencer, Mawada al-Adham, had at least two million followers and was accused of posting indecent photos and videos to social media.
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The three other women were charged with helping Hossam and Al-Adham manage their social media accounts, per the public prosecution.
Al-Adham's lawyer, Ahmed el-Bahkeri, has since confirmed the sentences and asserted that they would appeal the verdict.
El-Bahkeri said the young women were facing separate charges over the sources of their funds.
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"The verdict is shocking, though it was expected. We will see what happens on appeal," women's rights lawyer, Intissar al-Saeed, has said. "It is still a dangerous indicator ... Regardless of the divergent views on the content presented by the girls on TikTok, it still is not a reason for imprisonment."
Several human rights have taken to social media to condemn the sentences. A hashtag trending in Arabic, which translates to "with the permission of the Egyptian family", has been used online in a bid to draw attention to the arrests and demand the release of the female influencers.
A petition was also launched on Change.org demanding the release of the influencers with more than 1500 signatures at the time of writing.
"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 reads.
In recent years, Egypt has cracked down on female singers and dancers for online content that is deemed too provocative.
