TikTok Content Creator Haneen Hossam Released from Jail Pending Trial

Haneen Hossam has been released from jail, local media reports. Her discharge came earlier today, as she was released from the Sahel police station after posting bail, which was set at EGP 5,000.

The decision to release Hossam on bail pending her trial was issued by a judge last week, but was appealed by the Public Prosecution which was then overruled by the court, according to Youm7.

Hossam faces charges of human trafficking and inciting debauchery. She is among a dozen women TikTok content creators—including then 17-year-old rape victim Menna Abdel Aziz—arrested over the course of 2020 over similar charges, namely violating Egyptian family values, under provisions of the country’s 2018 cyber crime law. This wave of arrests has been compared to a witch-hunt targeting women from low income backgrounds and sparked outrage from women’s rights groups and human rights defenders.

Early last month, however, the Cairo Economic Court of Appeals ruled to acquit Hossam of violating Egyptian family values, overturning a two-year prison sentence and a EGP 300,000 fine handed down to the TikTok content creator in July 2020 by a lower court.

Hossam is accused of using social media to incite young women to commit “immoral” acts in exchange for money, according to the Public Prosecution, however the TikTok content creator has maintained her innocence throughout the legal ordeal.