Egyptian women jailed for two years over TikTok dance videos 'promoting immorality'

Egypt sentenced five young women to two years each in prison for “inciting debauchery” through the video sharing app TikTok, in a case critics say highlights the country’s shrinking sphere for free expression.

The women were also fined 300,000 Egyptian pounds (£14,600) after being convicted on Monday of running social media accounts that violated the conservative values of Muslim-majority Egypt, inciting debauchery and and promoting human trafficking, according to a statement from the public prosecutor.

Mawada Eladhm, an influencer with over three million followers on TikTok, was convicted of indecent social media posts on the platform, where she shares videos of herself dancing in a shark onesie, posing in a convertible, and performing short sketches.

Cairo university student Haneen Hossam, who has nearly one million TikTok followers, was convicted of encouraging women to earn money by talking to men on streamed video chats, which prosecutors interpreted as promoting online prostitution. “You can form friendships with people in a respectable manner,” she said in a video.

Three other women were charged over helping the two manage their social media accounts. Their lawyers vowed to appeal the convictions.

Their posts were unremarkable for the platform but their fame attracted the attention of authorities in Egypt, which criminalises vague offences including "misusing social media", "disseminating fake news", or "inciting debauchery and immorality".

Egypt has been moving in a more conservative direction for decades and since President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi came to power in 2013 there has been a far-reaching crackdown on personal freedoms. Women singers, dancers and social media stars have been vulnerable to arrest for "moral issues" stemming from behaviour that has become less acceptable.

Activists and social media users are campaigning online for the release of the social media influencers, calling their arrest a violation of free expression.

The sentencing of the women contrasts with another recent high-profile case in which a young man was accused of raping, sexually harassing and blackmailing dozens of fellow students at the country's most elite university.

Egypt changed its laws to allow victims of sexual assault to be granted anonymity after the case involving the American University in Cairo generated a public outcry and was branded as the country’s latest iteration of the MeToo movement.

But the complainants in that case are from wealthy families, critics noted, while the sentenced TikTok stars come from more modest backgrounds.

Egyptian lawmakers meanwhile have demanded the government ban TikTok.