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CAIRO (Reuters) – An Egyptian court sentenced an activist to two years in prison for a video she posted on social media and criticized the government for failing to protect women against sexual harassment and against bad behavior living conditions, said his lawyer.
Amal Fathy, a member of the banned youth movement since April 6 that played a role in the 2011 protests that forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down, was also fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($ 562). said his lawyer Tarek Abuel Nasr and the official MENA news agency.
She was accused of broadcasting fake news that threatened national security and broadcast a video that violated public decency. She must also face other charges, including joining an illegal group.
"It is an unjustified and incomprehensible injustice. We provided all the evidence to prove that it did not spread false news, "said her husband, Mohamed Lotfy, human rights activist and executive director of the Egyptian Commission of Rights and Freedoms (ECRF) .
"When a woman suffers sexual harassment and is sentenced to two years and a fine, it means that we say to all Egyptian women:" Shut your mouth … if you do not want to go to jail ". "
Government officials were not immediately available to comment.
Fathy will appeal the decision, said his lawyer.
Rights groups have repeatedly criticized the human rights situation in Egypt, saying that the situation continued to deteriorate under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who came to power in 2013 after the overthrow of the Islamist president. Mohamed Morsi by the police.
Seventeen American human rights experts on Friday criticized Egypt for using anti-terrorism laws to detain women activists fighting for women's rights and against corruption, torture and extrajudicial executions.
Fathy was arrested in May, a few days after posting a 12-minute video in which she was expressing her anger at the poor public services of a local bank, the intense traffic, the sexual harassment of a chauffeur. taxi and the general degradation of living conditions.
At that time, a security source said that Fathy had been arrested for a complaint that she allegedly insulted the Egyptian state through an offensive message on social networks.
In July, Egypt passed a law giving the state powers the power to block social media accounts and punish journalists for publishing false news.
Additional report of Mohamed Abdellah and Ahmed Tolba; Edited by Janet Lawrence
