Court upholds ruling 2 content creators violated ‘family values,’ lawyers intend to appeal

A court rejected on Monday an appeal against the verdict and sentencing of two content creators for “inciting immorality and debauchery” and “violating family values.”

The ruling represents a knock in an ongoing legal battle against stipulations introduced in cybercrime legislation from 2018 which has been used to justify the arrest and prosecution of many women creating content online.

The Cairo Cassation Court ruled on Monday to uphold its sentence of content creators Sherry Hanem and daughter Zomroda on the verdict that they were guilty of inciting immorality and debauchery, one of the defendants' lawyers, Hany Sameh, told Mada Masr.

The case began in 2020, when the Public Prosecution unit which “monitors and analyzes” social media said it tracked “anger” on the part of users toward videos published on various platforms by the two content creators, which it said included “sexual innuendo, insults and obscene expressions.” The prosecution unit said at the time that it received several demands for their arrest and investigation. 

The prosecution subsequently ordered the arrest of the two women on charges of “violating Egyptian society’s family principles and values as well as violating the sanctity of the private sphere and publishing content for the purpose of displaying and distributing photos and videos offensive to the public.”

Sherry Hanem and Zomroda were also sentenced on charges including encouraging “prostitution” and drawing attention to sex work, while one of them was accused of undertaking sex work and of inciting the other to do the same, as well as facilitating it for her. They were also both accused of establishing, managing and using private social media accounts for sex work.

According to Sameh, lawyers had filed an appeal against the initial ruling — a five-year prison sentence along with an LE100,000 fine, issued by the first court and upheld in subsequent appeal sessions — on the grounds that what constitutes a violation of Egyptian family values is “vague” and “undefined.” He then stressed that Sherry and Zomroda and others accused of similar charges did not violate the law.

Morality charges relating to sex work, family values and human trafficking have been upheld in various court circuits against men and women accused of managing, recruiting and creating content for social media accounts, most notably in the investigations into Haneen Hossam and Mawada al-Adham.

“We do not know the nature of these laws for a simple reason: what are family values? Are they the values of  Salafi and conservative families? Or the values of those who go to the North Coast, Sharm al-Sheikh, the Fifth Settlement and Sheikh Zayed city,” said Sameh, pointing to discrepancies in how the definition of “family values” are applied to women depending on their social class.

Sameh stated that defense lawyers had appealed the initial sentence as soon as it was issued in 2021, adding that the court took three years to review it.

Speaking to Mada Masr, he said that Monday's ruling is not the end of the road for the case. 

“We will not surrender,” said the lawyer. “We will appeal the new ruling first by petitioning the Cassation Court to reconsider its decision, and by continuing to pursue a separate lawsuit in which we argue that the ruling was invalid.” 

Commenting on the second lawsuit, Sameh continued, “the ruling violated established principles of the Court of Cassation in which it defends rights and freedoms,” the lawyer added.

Meanwhile, the two content creators remain imprisoned in Badr facility, after they were moved from Qanater prison over the course of the past years, with their fate yet to be determined.