An Egyptian appeals court has acquitted two young women who have been arrested for “attacking the values of society” over videos they posted on TikTok, a court official said.
“The Court of Appeal has accepted the appeal of Haneen Hossam and Mawada al-Adham against their imprisonment … on charges of incitement to licentiousness and the attack on the values of society,” the official said, asking not to be named. .
The women were sentenced to two years in prison in July for ‘violating public morals’.
Hossam was arrested in April after posting a video on TikTok telling her 1.3 million subscribers that girls could work with her for money.
She is accused of “inciting debauchery”, “the attack on public morals” and “human trafficking”.
Al-Adham, who has about 2 million Instagram followers, was also arrested in May after publishing satirical videos.
They are among a dozen influencers arrested in 2020 for ‘breaking public morals’ in the conservative country.
In June, an Egyptian court sentenced belly dancer Sama al-Masry to three years for “inciting promiscuity” on social media after posting a TikTok dance video.
In 2018, a female singer was detained on the same charge after an online video of her dancing went viral.
The previous year, a female pop singer was sentenced to two years in prison on similar charges, also for a video that is considered challenging. Her sentence was reduced to one year on appeal.