A Cairo misdemeanor court sentenced columnist Fatema Naout to three years in jail and a LE20,000 fine over charges of blasphemy.
The writer was found guilty of insulting Islam in a 2014 Facebook post in which she labelled the Islamic ritual of slaughtering sheep and distributing their meat as charity for the poor during the Islamic feast of Eid al-Adha as a “massacre.”
She denied that her post was meant to commit blasphemy, but stressed that the ritual of slaughtering sheep is a harmful act against animals in disguise.
“Thanks for the good judges of Egypt, thanks for two great revolutions that placed Egypt on the road to enlightenment,” Naout wrote on Facebook, commenting on the verdict. “Three years in jail and a fine for a Facebook post! Thanks to everybody.”
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
