Updates on debauchery incitement lawsuits: influencer cleared, prison sentence cancelled for another

CAIRO – 12 January 2021: The Economic Appellate Court cleared influencer Haneen Hossam and two others of debauchery incitement charges and cancelled the prison sentence issued against influencer Mawada al-Adham and Ahmed Sameh upholding the fine worth LE300,000 for each for posting obscene videos.

In June, the Public Prosecution ordered referring controversial TikTok influencers Haneen Hossam and Mawada Al-Adham to the Criminal Court, over “violating family principles and values in the Egyptian society.

They also faced charges of managing private internet accounts to commit this offense as well as human trafficking.

Hossam, who has 1.2 million followers on the 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."

Hossam, widely known for using photo editing magnification tools on her photos to attract online attention, is  a second-year student at Cairo University Faculty of Archaeology.

Egypt Today had reported that the university’s president Mohamed Othman El-Khosht said he had received several messages that a student in the University was calling upon females to shoot "inappropriate" videos in return for money.

Al Adham was charged of creating profiles on social media apps to promote immorality and behaviors that are inconsistent with the family values in the Egyptian society.

 

The Interior Ministry received information that El-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 at dawn Friday in a compound in 6th of October City where she was hiding from the police.