Tourist in Egypt arrested over Facebook rant

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A TOURIST who posted a Facebook rant complaining about sexual harassment and poor restaurant service during her trip to Egypt has been arrested and charged over the comments.

Mona el-Mazboh, from Lebanon, posted a 10-minute video in which she called Egypt a “son of a bitch country” and spoke out about being sexually harassed by taxi drivers and men in the street.

In the scathing rant, which has gone viral, she also complained about bad service at restaurants during the holy month of Ramadan and said she’d had money stolen from her on a previous trip to the country.

She also called Egyptian people the “dirtiest people on earth” and said Egypt was “the country of pimps … the country of beggars”.

Ms el-Mazboh was arrested at Cairo airport on Thursday, as she was attempting to leave Egypt, and charged with “deliberately spreading false rumours that are harmful to society and infringe upon religions”.

She faces up to five years in prison if found guilty, Reuters said.

In the video, Ms el-Mazboh made reference at Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was sworn in for a second term on Saturday.

Mr al-Sisi was re-elected in a March vote in which he faced no serious challengers.

“You deserve what Sisi is doing to you,” Ms el-Mazboh said in the video.

Ms el-Mazboh posted a second video in which she apologised for her remarks in the first video.

“I definitely didn’t mean to offend all Egyptians,” she said.

Thousands of opponents have been arrested as Egyptian authorities continue with a crackdown on free speech.

Many of those detained have been accused of insulting the country or spreading fake news on social media.

In a similar incident, Egyptian woman Amal Fathy was detained last month after she posted a video on social media criticising the government for failing to protect woman from sexual harassment.

In the video, the former actor and model described how she was groped by a taxi driver and harassed by a guard at a bank.

“Screw anything that has the name of Egypt in it,” she said in the 12-minute clip.

“Today the policeman at the bank was talking dirty to me while grabbing his penis. Screw the police.”

About 36 hours later, Ms Fathy was arrested during a raid on her apartment and taken to a women’s prison. She has been charged with a number of crime, including calling for terrorist acts over the internet and spreading fake news.

In another high-profile case last week, prominent Egyptian activist Hazem Abdel-Azim was arrested at his Cairo home, accused of disseminating fake news and belonging to an outlawed group.