Tik Tok bloggers Haneen Hossam, Mawada el-Adham handed 10, 6 yrs in prison over ‘human trafficking’

CAIRO – 21 June 2021: Cairo Criminal Court issued its ruling to sentence both Tik Tok bloggers Haneen Hossam and Mawada el-Adham to prison terms in absentia over human trafficking charge.

Haneen Hossam was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a fine of L.E. 200,000, and Mawada el-Adham was sentenced to 6 years in prison and a fine of L.E. 200,000 over encouraging young women to broadcast indecent content on the platform to make money.

According to the prosecution, the bloggers exploited their victims’ poverty and promised to give them money, where Adham and Hossam are part of an organized human trafficking group.

Both ladies were detained since March 2020 over charges of human trafficking. They were handed a two year-sentence each for violating the values and principles of the Egyptian family, and inciting debauchery.

In January, they have been acquitted of “violating family values” and the merits of their acquittal are largely owed to their young age.

The Economic Appeal Court of Cairo said in its judgement that Adham was born in 1998 and Hossam in 2000 22, and although their videos on TikTok “do violate public decency,” but there is also a huge competition amongst young people on social media over followers, which prompted to create these videos.