Press Release
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On Tuesday, June 22, 2021, the security forces arrested Haneen Hossam in one of the areas of Shubra Misr neighbour hood (North Cairo). She was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a fine of 200,000 Egyptian pounds for her conviction in case No. 4917 of 2020 (Sahel Felonies), known in the media as The Tik Tok girl, as the Cairo Criminal Court issued its verdict on Sunday, June 20, 2021.
The Public Prosecution referred the accused to the Cairo Criminal Court on charges of human trafficking. The victims, two girls “M.S” and “H. W.”, under the age of 18, and others are accusing her of using them under the pretence of providing them with job opportunities as broadcasters on the social networking applications, “Likee App” and “Tik Tok App,
It conceals calls for incitement to immorality and temptation to prostitution. She invited them to a group called “Likee Haram” that she created on her phone to meet with young people through video chats and establish friendships during the period of domestic isolation, which is sweeping the world due to the Coronavirus pandemic, with the intent of obtaining a material benefit.
On January 27, 2021, the judge at Abbasiya Court decided to support the release of the accused on bail of 5,000 pounds pending the case, after the prosecution’s appeal was rejected.
The defendant’s appeal of her imprisonment verdict was accepted, and the Cairo Appeal Court decided to set the November 4, 2021 session to consider the first session of Haneen Hosam’s retrial. The court decided to postpone the hearing of the case to the session of December 20, 2021, to take measures to change the circuit, and to postpone the consideration of the case again to the session of January 18, 2021, to implement the requests of the defence to summon witnesses. It was then adjourned to the February 21 session to complete the hearing of witnesses after it fined 4 witnesses 5,000 pounds each for their failure to appear to testify.
