Egyptian writer Fatima Naoot, above, has been sentenced to three years in prison for talking about animal rights.
According to this report, she was found guilty of insulting Islam after using Facebook to describe Eid al-Adha’s tradition of slaughtering sheep as:
The greatest massacre committed by human beings.
During the Eid al-Adha celebrations, each year thousands of livestock – mainly cows, sheep and goats – are cruelly slaughtered in public by Muslims across the globe.
The case against the secular writer related to an October 2015 Facebook post. She was also ordered to pay a fine of $255.
Her sentence comes into effect immediately, but it is reported that she will be able to appeal from prison. While she did admit to writing the Facebook post, she argued that it was in no way meant to be an insult to Islam. She said:
I’m not sad about the sentencing as I don’t care about going to jail. I’m sad that the efforts of reformists have been wasted.
Sherif Adeeb, her defence attorney, expressed his surprise at the court’s decision.
Despite having hoped for an acquittal, I cannot comment on court decisions but the situation in general is odd because we have submitted proof that there were no criminal intentions on the part of my client, a claim that the prosecution authorities also supported.