CAIRO - 27 July 2020: The economic court sentenced on Monday social media influencers HaninHossam and Mawadael-Adhamto two years in prison overdebauchery charges and fined them LE 300,000 each.
The court also sentenced three other defendants implicated in the same case to two years in jail and fined each of them LE 300,000.
Earlier in June, the Public Prosecution referred the defendants to the criminal court.
The two young girls are accused of violating family morals and values of the Egyptian society and using social media accounts to spread their immoral acts in return for money.
Haneen Hossam
The North Cairo Court in Abbasiya district had earlier ruled to accept an appeal filed against a decision to release Hossam. The court had previously ruled to release Hossam on a bail of LE 50,000 ($3,091).
Investigations into the case of Hossamhavefound her guilty of committing immoral actions through the TikTok application, taking advantage of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the society’s economic situation to lure young girls into using certain online applications to “meet strangers” and “post entertainment videos” for some extra cash.
Hossam, regarded as a social media influencerespecially by teenagers and children, was ordered to be detained pending investigation for 15 days for publishing online videos "inciting debauchery, immorality and violating public morals," according to a security source.
Hossam, who has 1.2 million followers on the social media app, posted a video to recruit women to join a group she created on short-video sharing platform Likee, with the purpose of promoting the platform in return for payment.
In the footage posted on Likee, she offered girls and women the chance to “work from home and earn around £2,025 to £2,430 for making live videos and talking to strangers.”
She added, "You will be able to form friendships with people in a respectable way."
The prosecution accused Hossamof committing encouraging young girls to commitinappropriate actions online.
Sexual predators are now increasingly using popular online games, apps, and social media to groom and talk to children, a new campaign to fight underage sexual abuse has revealed.
Police are warning parents that games, social media and apps- such as TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, Likee, KikTellonyn, Whispr, Minecraft and House Party - or any app that has a chat option - are being misused by child predators.
Hossam, widely known for using photo editing magnification tools on her photos to attract online attention, is also a second-year student at Cairo University, Faculty of Archaeology.
The university’s President Mohamed Othman El-Khosht said he had received several messages that a student in the university was encouraging females to shoot "inappropriate" videos in return for money.
He reportedly stressed that the university will impose the maximum penalty for acting against the Egyptian community’s values and traditions.
Research by eSafety has revealed 1 in 4 young people have been contacted by a stranger online.
Crime Stoppers and NSW Police Force have joined with the eSafety Commissioner's office for the first time to launch a child protection campaign to combat child sexual abuse and unwanted contact online.
Mawada Al-Adham
The Public Prosecution in May ordered remanding in custody social media influencer Mawada el-Adham for four days pending investigations over charges of violating public values.
The social media influencer is accused of creating profiles on social media apps to promote immorality and behaviors that are inconsistent with the values of the Egyptian society.
The Interior Ministry received information that Adham ran away from her residence in the New Cairo district in order not to be arrested and used some electronic apps to encrypt her data while using the internet or making calls.
Security authorities arrested her in a compound in 6th of October City where she was hiding from the police.
Most of the social media figures stressed that Hossam and Adham did promote immorality; some even said that strict measures must be taken against the many people on social media who behave like them.Meanwhile, others believe they are free to post whatever they like on their social media accounts.
There is no doubt that the family values in the Egyptian society do not allow such actions and that inciting debauchery and immorality is a crime.
Article 26 of the Egyptian law stipulates that "Anyone who assaults any of the family principles or the values of theEgyptian society shall be punished by imprisonment for a period not less than six months or a fine of not less than LE 50,000 and not exceeding LE 100,000."
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