An Egyptian blogger has been sentenced to three years in prison with hard labour after making comments about married women being unfaithful.
Taymour el-Sobky made the controversial comments during a television appearance back on December, according to Al-Ahram newspaper.
He claimed that 30 per cent of Egyptian wives would cheat on their husbands if they had the chance.
El-Sobky said: “Thirty percent of women have a readiness for immorality but cannot find someone to encourage them.”
He went on to claim in particular that women in the southern cities of Asyut, Minya, Sohag, Luxor and Aswan are the most culpable.
It’s fair to say he faced a massive backlash from other TV talk show hosts and civilians, who then filed complaints to public prosecutors which led to his arrest.
He has now been sentenced under a ‘spreading false news’ charge, as his courts could harm public peace and damage the public interest. However, this decision has been condemned by human rights groups.
Artists, writers, and intellectuals have expressed fear over the future of free speech and creativity in Egypt and this sentencing probably won’t change their minds either.
El-Sobky – who runs a popular Facebook page, called ‘The Diary of a Suffering Man which has more than a million likes – has since said that his comments were taken out of context.
After his claim, a masked man from the region appeared in a video on YouTube armed with an assault rifle, and issued a death threat against El-Sobky.
El-Sobky was sentenced by a court in Giza and remains in custody, but an appeal is scheduled for March 30th.
