Bessa and Warda, two young Egyptian creators of TikTok content, are going to experience for themselves what they parodied a few weeks ago on networks: the terrible situation of the prisons in Egypt. Both have been jailed after spreading such material on TikTok. This makes them the last to join the list of ‘influencers’ that the Egyptian government has under its sights, and whom the country’s Justice accuses of acts such as terrorism or human trafficking, among other crimes, and to encourage
The two young men have been arrested and remanded in custody, accused of belonging to a terrorist organization after posting a video parodying a visit to a prison in Egypt, according to their lawyer, Hoda Abdelwahab. The video, with 7 million views and uploaded on January 13, is by far one of the most viewed by his followers.
The youth’s lawyer, Hoda Abdelwahab, said on her Facebook page that on Sunday she attended the investigations being carried out by the State Security Prosecutor’s Office against content creators Mohamed Hosam, known as “Bessa”, and Basma Hegazy. , who uses the pseudonym “Warda” on networks.
According to the lawyer, both young men were accused of “joining a terrorist group and spreading false news”, for which the Public Ministry issued the decision to imprison them for 15 days while investigations continue.
Bessa and Warda, both from Alexandria (north), published a video just two weeks ago in which they made a parody and normalized the fact of having family and friends imprisoned in isolation cells in Egypt, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by the Government from Abdelfatah al Sisi, whose intolerance towards dissident voices is well known.
In fact, Bessa and Warda are not the only ‘influencers’ who have proven such intolerance. For a couple of years, the ‘famous and famous’ dripping from the networks, for one reason or another, have ended up in jail and had to face trials on controversial charges such as undermining family values. In the list, where many women appear, we find names of ‘influencers’ such as Manar Samay, Hamin Hossam or the belly dancer Sana al-Masri, who was sentenced to three years in prison. The first two were found guilty by the Cairo Criminal Court and sentenced to long prison terms for incitement to post “indecent” content, human trafficking and other offences.
Already then Amnesty International raised the alarm, considering that the young women were being punished for their way of dancing, speaking, dressing and trying to “influence” the audience on social networks, and called for their immediate release.
Among those affected are bloggers, tweeters and even cartoonists for the mere fact of expressing critical opinions.
