A TIKTOK star has had a draconian decade-long prison sentence slashed to three years after she was jailed in Egypt over dance videos that “incited debauchery”.
Haneen Hossam, 20, was convicted of “human trafficking” charges and accused of exploiting girls for money through video-sharing platforms.
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She denied the charge – which was linked to an invitation to her followers to get paid for making live videos.
She was first arrested in April 2020 for “violating family values and principles” – after inviting her women followers to join another video-sharing platform, Likee.
She said this was where they could make money by broadcasting live videos.
Hossam and fellow TikTokker Mowada al-Adham were acquitted in January 2021 – but prosecutors then introduced a more serious charge of human trafficking.
In June last year, a court found them both guilty – and Hossam was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
But after posting a tearful video, she was granted a retrial.
However, the same court found her guilty on Monday and she was slapped with a three-year sentence – and the judge fined her 200,000 Egyptian pounds.
The jailings are part of a worrying trend in Egypt to remove provocative content from social media channels that are seen as contradicting traditional Muslim morals.
Several belly dancers and pop singers have been targeted in recent years.
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Human Rights groups say freedoms are being curbed under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who seized power in a military in 2014.
Haneen allegedly offered women aged over 18 years the chance to work from home and earn around £2,025 to £2,430 for making live videos and talking to strangers.
She said: “You will be able to form friendships with people in a respectable way.”
The model was even threatened with expulsion from Cairo University where she was studying a degree in archaeology.
Before her arrest, Haneen released a video defending her post and rejected claims she was calling for “debauchery”.
The influencer added: “There are famous actors that use TikTok. Does this mean they work in prostitution?”
Egyptian feminist Ghadeer Ahmed was one of the few high-profile people to defend Haneen and claimed that she had been the target of numerous bullying campaigns by the authorities.
She said: “This video went viral and some TV hosts and YouTubers started to incite against her, saying she wants to hire young Egyptian women as ‘digital sex workers,’ which is illegal and goes against the so-called public moralities.”
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