Egypt Is Cracking Down on Influencers

“Ten years! I haven’t done anything wrong that deserves ten years of prison,” cries Haneen Hossam, 20, in one of the only two videos that are now available on her Instagram account, after a criminal court in Cairo sentenced her in absentia for “human trafficking” earlier this week. Fellow influencer Mawada al-Adham, 23, and three other associates were jailed for six years on the same charges. The human trafficking charge stems from allegations – that the women all strenuously deny – that they encouraged young girls and women to expose themselves online.

In her Instagram video Hossam defended herself, saying she hadn’t hurt anyone by promoting Likee – a Chinese-made video content sharing application similar to TikTok. She appeared devastated by the court decision and struggled to speak. She appealed to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi “fairness” to pardon her.

Two days later, Hossam was detained.

Hossam and Adham, two social media stars in Egypt with millions of followers on TikTok and Instagram for fashion and comedy content, have already spent ten months in prison in total after being first arrested in April 2020. They spent three months in pre-trial detention before receiving two-year sentences and $19,000 fines over charges of “violating Egyptian family values, inciting immorality and debauchery” in July. 

Their arrests, which occurred during a crackdown when many women social media influencers were being arrested in Egypt, attracted widespread attention from the Egyptian public and internationally, as well as from human rights groups.

Hossam and Adham were released earlier this year after an appeal overturned the verdict in January. Still, the public prosecutor pressed ahead with new charges, including the “human trafficking” allegations, which were upheld by the criminal court on Sunday.

The prosecution used their incomes made from TikTok as evidence for the charge, calling it an “exchange for what it is achieved by viewing and publishing videos that incite immorality to increase followers.”

The most recent court ruling sparked a fresh wave of criticism from civil society organisations in Egypt, which denounced the verdict and demanded the release of Hossam and Adham, and other jailed social media influencers. In an open letter spearheaded by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the groups called on the public prosecutor “to stop imposing its moral guardianship on digital content creators and women, and to instead fulfil its professional obligations, which include investigating cases affecting survivors of rape and harassment.”

The joint statement described the ruling as “flawed”. It also highlighted that the verdict on Sunday resulted from a “systematic security and media campaign aimed at imposing moral and societal guardianship on social media users.”

It is feared that Hossam and Adham's case could be the beginning of many women receiving harsh sentences for social media posts deemed by the authoritarian government in Egypt as morally “indecent”.

“The Public Prosecution must uphold its role in conducting serious investigations into reports of rape, sexual harassment, torture and enforced disappearance, instead of ignoring these reports,” the letter added.

Hossam has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. “I get accused of human trafficking, why? I haven’t hurt anyone by promoting an app,” she said.