Six young Christians in Egypt have been jailed for sharing a TikTok post that authorities deemed offensive to Islam.
The men who are between the ages of 17 and 23, posted a video of themselves re-enacting a scene from a popular Egyptian comedy film, depicting prisoners who are unfamiliar with Quranic prayers.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) said the video was intended to be “light-hearted” and was posted on TikTok on 4 October. It quickly amassed comments inciting violence against the men and their families. Some local villagers called authorities to report them and the men were arrested on 6 October.
ADF said it was believed they would be released once tensions in their village were calmed, but they remain in jail.
Kelsey Zorzi, who is ADF’s Senior Counsel and Vice President of International Advocacy said the case is part of a larger crisis of religious persecution in Egypt: “This is tragically common in Egypt, where Christians face threats, discrimination, and ultimately imprisonment for speech that is only seen as problematic because they are not part of the majority religion. These young men did nothing but share a light-hearted video with a voiceover from a popular and uncontroversial film, as many others on the platform have done. There is no reason to charge or imprison them.
“We have seen far too many cases of this nature in Egypt. Christians should never have to fear punishment for sharing a post. We urge the authorities to release these six young men and drop any investigations against them immediately.“
Christians make up about 10%-15% of Egypt’s population, but though Egypt’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion, the use of blasphemy and related “insult” laws has persisted in the country. In the last year alone, scores of religious minorities have been criminally prosecuted and imprisoned for posting allegedly blasphemous content on social media, as part of a wider crackdown on online content deemed offensive to Islam.
Zorzi added: “Christian persecution has been a persistent problem in Egypt for many years. We have seen countless cases of individuals who are targeted and punished for nothing more than expressing their beliefs. Egypt must take action to address this crisis and protect freedom of speech and religious freedom for all”.