Egyptian Arrested for the Crime of Forming a Facebook Group for Atheists

This story is tough to verify, but it wouldn’t be very surprising if it were true.

According to the English version of the Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Ahram, a 20-year-old (unnamed) student at Suez Canal University was arrested for committing an awful crime against religion:

He formed a Facebook group about atheism.

The accused student appeared before the prosecution, who transferred him to national security for further investigation.

…

Article 98 of Egypt’s penal code says anyone convicted of offending religion in any form can face up to six years in prison.

If it seems a little too far-fetched to believe, recall that Alber Saber was arrested, sentenced to three years in prison, and nearly killed after simply posting a link to the “blasphemous” movie “Innocence of Muslims” on his Facebook group’s page.

But to be arrested just for forming a group?! That’s a new low, even for Egypt.

I’ll post updates on this story if/when they come in.

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