About this toolkit

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In the last few months, the Egyptian government launched a security campaign targeting women on Tiktok and multiple social media platforms. It started by arresting Haneen Hossam who was accused of threatening the values of " the Egyptian family " and inciting debauchery. 

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On May 26, 2020, the Public Prosecutor accused Aya, also known as Mona Abdel Aziz, of inciting immorality and debauchery, after posting a video in which she sought help and demanded justice after she was raped, filmed, and blackmailed by a group of friends with the rape video. A series of arrests for the same reasons targeted Mawadda Al-Adham on May 14, and Sherifa Refaat, also known as Sheri Hanim and Nora Hisham, known as Zomoroda, on June 10. The crackdown on tik-tok women continued when Manar Sami and Hadeer Hadi were arrested on July 1 and July 6. The last arrest targeted Basant Muhammed on July 10th for the same charges.

Goals of this toolkit 

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Raising public awareness of the issue of Tik Tok girls, in light of the restriction of freedom of opinion and expression in Egypt.

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Encouraging individuals to take urgent action through blogging or by sending a letter or e-mail to the Egyptian embassy in their country, or to the Attorney General if they are in Egypt

Encouraging women and people from different parts of the world to join the online campaign #Free_Tiktok_Girls to deliver to the Egyptian government a message that women should not be punished for dancing or expressing themselves.

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This toolkit contains 

• An introduction to the women who got arrested during this campaign, 

• Social media posts, and emails to help us spread our message, as well as instructions on how to take urgent action.

For more information on the legal background of the arrests and Egypt’s record on repressing women and human rights, please follow this link

Introduction to the tik tok girls

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Mena Abdulaziz

Mena has appeared in a video in which she claimed that she was subjected to a rape, and was blackmailed by publishing the video, and despite the fact that the incident was proven, the Public Prosecution ordered the victim to be imprisoned.

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On May 30, the Public Prosecution issued a statement in which it reviewed the facts of the case, blaming the victim for publishing videos that the prosecution deemed contained incitement to debauchery. Although the prosecution decided on June 9 to replace the victim’s pretrial detention with a placement in a care home, the prosecution has not dropped the charges against her and she is still under investigation despite the brutality of what she was subjected to.

Haneen Hussam

Last April, the Public Prosecution ordered the arrest and summoning of the student Hanin Hossam Abdel Qader and her imprisonment for 4 days pending investigation, noting in their statement “the defendant's assault on family principles and values ​​in Egyptian society,” which is the same accusation directed against the student “Mawaddah Al-Adham” and three others in Last March, in connection with case 1047 of 2020, known in the media as the "Tik Tok Girls" case. The same accusation was used for "Sherifa Rifaat" and her daughter, "Nora", on June 10.

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Mawada  Al Adham 

Mawaddah Al-Adham and three other girls were arrested last March, in connection with case 1047 of 2020, known in the media as the "Tik Tok Girls" case. 

The court said that Mawaddah "attacked family values" by posting videos on social media sites aiming at "seducing young people" to gain more viewers and followers to collect more money from ads. The court also said that Al-Adham appeared in the videos "in indecent clothes and dancing in a pornographic manner in public places." According to press statements made by Mawada's lawyer, the prosecutor asked her to undergo a "virginity test," which she refused. The authorities may have subjected at least two other women to a virginity test.

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Sherifa Refaat and Nora Hisham

In early June, authorities arrested Sherifa Rifaat, 46, and her daughter, Nora Hisham, 24, who are a popular mother-daughter duo on TikTok and Instagram who have more than 100,000 followers, accusing them of being “enemies of family principles and values ​​in Egyptian society. ".

Public Prosecutor Hamada al-Sawy said on June 12 that the “Monitoring and Analysis” unit in the “Al-Bayan Administration of the Attorney General's Office” had “received several requests for their arrest,” and that the prosecution “monitored the anger of social media users” on the videos the two women posted.

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Manar Sami

On July 1, authorities arrested Manar Sami, 30, a popular content creator on TikTok and Instagram with more than 250,000 followers, following a complaint by lawyer Ashraf Farhat's "Hisbah" which stated that she was "publishing pornographic content on websites." The Public Prosecution office ordered Manar to be imprisoned for using her social media accounts in a manner that "violates family principles and values ​​in Egyptian society." The judge sent her to pretrial detention.

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Mennat Allah Emad

On July 1, police in the Dokki neighborhood of Cairo arrested “Renad” (her real name is Mennat Allah) Imad, 20, in a café. The Public Prosecution Office ordered her detention pending investigation on charges of posting "inappropriate" content on Tik Tok. Menat Allah is an Instagram and Tik Tok influencer, with over 2.3 million followers on the two platforms. It appears that both accounts have been deleted.

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Hadeer Al-Hadi 

On July 6, Giza Morality Police arrested Hadeer Al-Hadi, 23, who has more than a million followers on Tik Tok and Instagram, for posting "shameless" videos on the Internet. Her laptop and phone were confiscated, and on August 4 they renewed her pretrial detention until August 18. Media reports indicate that authorities may have subjected her to a virginity test.

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Basant Muhammad

Morality Police arrested Basant Mohamed, a 20-year-old student, from Alexandria on July 10 over the content of her Tik Tok video. Basant, who has nearly a million and a half followers on TikTok and Instagram, was released pending investigation on 11 July.

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Sama el-Masry

On June 29, the Cairo Economic Court sentenced Sama el-Masry, 42, a well-known TV personality, actress, singer, and dancer, to 3 years in prison and a fine of 300,000 EGP for “public indecency.” A public prosecutor’s statement on April 27 said authorities had ordered el-Masry detained for publishing “sexually suggestive” videos on YouTube and other social media platforms. She is appealing the verdict. The prosecution also referred el-Masry for a separate trial for “inciting debauchery,” which began on July 6.