Free Fatima Naoot. Defend Free Speech!

The news that Fatima Naoot has been sentenced to three years in an Egyptian prison just for expressing an opinion about animal rights on Facebook is an attack on both free speech and Human rights.

According to albawaba.com last week:

Fatima Naoot described Prophet Abraham's dream — in which, according to Abrahamic faiths, God told him to sacrifice his son as a test of his faith — as a "nightmare." Before Abraham can carry out the deed, God provided a sheep instead as a sacrifice.

In her post, the poet criticized the sacrifice of animals on Eid al-Adha, also called the Feast of the Sacrifice, a festival that honors Abraham's willingness to obey God.

"Millions of innocent creatures will be driven to the most horrible massacre committed by humans for ten-and-a-half centuries," she said. "A massacre which is repeated every year because of the nightmare of a righteous man about his good son."

They update with the news that:

Fatima Naoot, an Egyptian secular writer, has been sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of insulting Islam. The charges related to an October 2015 Facebook post which decried the tradition of slaughtering sheep on Eid al-Adha as the “greatest massacre committed by human beings.” She was also ordered to pay a fine of $255.

Her sentence comes into effect immediately, but it is reported that she will be able to appeal from prison.While she did admit to writing the Facebook post, she argued that it was in no way meant to be an insult to Islam.

“I'm not sad about the sentencing as I don't care about going to jail. I'm sad that the efforts of reformists have been wasted,” she told AFP.

The criticism of Islam or any other religion is not a crime and shows the continuing need to fight for the separation of religion and the state.

Free Speech continues attack from fundamentalists and others world wide.

Free Fatima Naoot Now!