Egyptian Facebook User Earns 3 Year Prison Term

(Watching All Users Trying To “Friend” Ayman Mansour)


By Dell Hill

If you happen to be traveling to Egypt, it might not be such a good idea to post anything bad about Islam to your Facebook account.  Freedom of speech is somewhat lacking in that region, as we learn in this report from Fox News:

“Egypt's state media says a Cairo court has sentenced a man to three years in prison for postings on Facebook deemed to be inciting sectarianism and in contempt of Islam.

The MENA state news agency said Saturday the misdemeanor court found Ayman Mansour had intentionally mocked Islam and used "outrageous and scurrilous" language in describing the religion's holy book, the Quran, and its prophet and believers.

The court said freedom of belief doesn't excuse contempt that may offend believers and "subject the regime and the country's security to serious dangers."

Egypt is grappling with an increasingly assertive ultraconservative Islamist trend, and recent clashes between the military police and Coptic Christians have heightened fears of increasing sectarian strife.”

It’s probably a good thing that Facebook users, who are American citizens and take great pride in their Constitutional Right to Freedom of Speech, aren’t subject to investigation by the Egyptians.  We’d all be in the slammer.