'How Is Sisi Any Better Than the Muslim Brotherhood?': Jailing 'Tiktok Girls' Prompts Anger in Egypt

Weeks after their sudden arrest, five Egyptian women who have been known as the "Tiktok girls" have been sentenced to two years in prison and a $20k fine each; after being charged with "offending family values by posting immoral videos" on the popular video-sharing platform, triggering many angry reactions in Egyptian social media.

Egyptian Public Prosecution accused the young women of nine different charges including human trafficking, referring to a video in which 19-years-old Haneen Hossam called on women amongst her 1.2 million followers to join Likee live streaming application "with good lighting setup and decent clothing to make money of up to $3k per hour in exchange for a good time."

Prior to the court verdict, social media activists had launched an online campaign calling on authorities to release the young women, arguing that "officials shouldn't dictate what individuals, especially women, do as long as they're not violating laws" and that the "government shouldn't be involved in dancing videos posted publicly on social media."

According to several local resources, Mawadda Al Adham's lawyer has revealed that she "refused to undergo a virginity test requested by authorities", which triggered even more anger on social media users' side.

Additionally, some social media commentators highlighted the contradiction between the current political regime's actions and its promise to "rescue Egypt from the religious control of the Muslim brotherhood" which briefly ruled the country between 2012-2013 before being ousted by the then-defense minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who's been in power since.

According to Egyptian commentators, the country is witnessing unprecedented human rights violations, ones that were not carried out by previous political systems including the Mubarak regime, which was overthrown by the 2011 Arab Spring protests known in Egypt as the 25 January revolution.

Translation: "Thank God the MB is no longer here or else they'd have detained women dancing on Tiktok. They couldn't be more ridiculous they would have ignored the Coronavirus and water scarcity and gone after women to put them in jail. Thank God Sisi has rescued us from them." 

Translation: "I can't even imagine the reactions and anger if the MB were still in power and did what the Sisi's government is going right now, like arresting Tiktok girls. That would have been something."