Haneen Hossam, a 20-year-old female and popular influencer in Egypt has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in absentia alongside Mawada al-Adham on human trafficking charges.
She is currently enrolled in Cairo University and has a 900,000 following on TikTok
Hossam was first arrested in April 2020, when she was seen encouraging female followers to join a different video-sharing platform.
Both were charged with “using girls in acts contrary to the principles and values of Egyptian society with the aim of gaining material benefits”.
Human Rights activists have suggested that their arrest is part of a crackdown on social media female influencers targeting their rights to privacy, freedom of expression, non-discrimination and bodily autonomy.
Haneen Hossam expressed disbelief at the sentence in a video she posted before her arrest and requested for presidential pardon. According to her, she didn’t deserve the sentence.
“10 years! I didn’t do anything immoral to deserve all this. I was jailed for 10 months and didn’t say a word after I was released… Why do you want to jail me again?” she said.