A Lebanese tourist in Egypt was referred to criminal trial in Egypt and ordered to be detained for further 15 days on charges of “deliberately spreading false rumors that are harmful to society and infringe upon religions”, according to Reuters citing Egypt’s public prosecutor.
Mona el-Mathbouh, published a video on Facebook complaining about Egypt during her trip there, she mentioned sexual harassment by taxi drivers as well as the ride-hailing apps drives and young men in the streets, the poor service provided by restaurants in Ramadan in addition to an incident in which her belongings were stolen.
In the video, Mona starts calling Egyptians the “dirtiest people on earth” and Egypt is “the country of beggars” and “son of a b**** country”.
It did not stop there, Mona went to add that “You [Egyptians] deserve what Sisi is doing to you, I hope God sends you someone more oppressive than Sisi.”
Mona faced backlash by Egyptians as well as Lebanese after posting the video, which led her to post an apology video in which she said: “I definitely didn’t mean to offend all Egyptians” but she was narrowing what happened with her in her four visits to Egypt.
Mona said she posted the first video on a private Facebook page with only 25 people. However, one of her friends took it and posted it on a public platform. “I know who he is, but I don’t know why he did it. Maybe he felt offended because he was a harasser as well.”
Mona was arrested later by the Egyptian police before her departure from Cairo airport. According to one of her lawyers, Mona could face three to five years in jail if found guilty.
On social media, Mona’s video went viral and upset people who went to denounce what she said.
Translation: “When Mona Mathbouh insulted and cursed the harassers it was fine, but insulting a whole nation is a problem… She made a mistake and must leave the country and never allowed to enter it again.”
Translation: “I saw the video and in fact, Egypt is not a heaven, it has many issues and I did not want to spread such issues on public. However, this girl seems to have serious mental problems as she lost her message by cursing people she could defend instead of insulting. Finally, please don’t generalize the rule as she doesn’t represent anyone except herself.”
Lebanese users went to condemn Mona’s remarks:
Translation: “Interior Minister, please denounce the Lebanese, Mona Mathbouh’s remarks who insulted Egyptians in a documented video that contains inappropriate and impolite words that offend the reputation of Lebanon and Lebanese.”
