CAIRO — Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has urged Egyptian authorities to free six young Christians detained for more than two weeks after posting a TikTok video that authorities considered offensive to Islam.
In an Oct. 22 report, the legal advocacy organization said the six, who range in age from 17 to 23, were detained and questioned on charges of "exploiting" and "insulting" the religion of Islam.
"We urge the authorities to release these six young men and drop any investigations against them immediately," said Kelsey Zorzi, ADF's senior counsel and vice president of international advocacy.
The video posted on Oct. 4 featured audio from a popular Egyptian comedy film depicting prisoners unfamiliar with Quranic prayers. According to ADF, the six reenacted the scene.
"These young men did nothing but share a lighthearted video with a voiceover from a popular and uncontroversial film, as many others on the platform have done. There is no reason to charge or imprison them," Zorzi said.
ADF said the post attracted comments inciting violence against the young men and their families, and that some villagers reported them to the authorities.
On Oct. 6, the six were handed over to police for questioning, with the understanding that they would be released once tensions in their village had calmed, according to the organization. They remained in detention as of the Oct. 22 report.
Zorzi described their detention as part of a wider pattern of discrimination against Christians in Egypt.
"This is tragically common in Egypt, where Christians face threats, discrimination, and ultimately imprisonment for speech that is only seen as problematic because they are not part of the majority religion," she said.
ADF estimated that Christians constitute 10% to 15% of Egypt's population. The organization said they continue to face discrimination, violence, and imprisonment despite constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.
It said the continued use of blasphemy and related "insult" laws has perpetuated the persecution of Coptic Christians.
According to ADF, scores of members of religious minorities have been prosecuted and imprisoned over the past year for social media posts deemed blasphemous amid a wider crackdown on online content considered offensive to Islam.
The organization cited Augustinos Samaan, a YouTuber who, it said, was sentenced to five years of hard labor for teaching the Christian faith on his channel.
It also highlighted the case of Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo, a Christian father of five, imprisoned on blasphemy charges after sharing his beliefs in a Christian Facebook group. ADF said he was subsequently released with its support and had relocated safely to another country.
"Christian persecution has been a persistent problem in Egypt for many years. We have seen countless cases of individuals who are targeted and punished for nothing more than expressing their beliefs. Egypt must take action to address this crisis and protect freedom of speech and religious freedom for all," Zorzi said.
This story was first published by ACI Africa, the sister service of EWTN News in Africa, and has been adapted by EWTN News.
