Six Christians released after parody video sparked sectarian tensions
Egyptian authorities released on bail six Christian youths who were detained over a video reenacting a comedy scene from the movie “Khalawees,” their lawyer and a prominent rights group said.
The Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered the release on Oct. 19 pending investigation, with their place of residence serving as guarantee, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) announced yesterday.
Hazem Salah El-Din, defense attorney for the six detainees, told Al Manassa that authorities completed the release procedures and handed the youths over to their families.
EIPR deliberately delayed making the news public until confirming the release was implemented, Salah El-Din said, citing preceding incitement targeting the youths and their families in their home village in Minya Governorate.
The prosecution moved ahead of a scheduled detention-renewal hearing slated for next week, releasing the youths roughly a week early and before the expiration of the 15-day pre-trial renewal period, Salah El-Din said.
Welcoming the move, EIPR stated that the release followed accusations leveled against the group—which includes a minor under 18—of “exploiting religion to promote extremist ideas and insulting a religion.”
The incident dates back to early October, when the youths, hailing from the Ezbet Tanyous hamlet in the village of Taha Al-Ammeda, Samalout district, recorded a video mimicking a satirical scene from the 2018 film “Khalawees.”
The sequence portrays prison inmates preparing for prayer while none among them knows by heart the Quranic verses necessary to perform it.
Although the youths deleted the clip after receiving warnings that it could be misinterpreted, another village resident reposted it. Social media users then unleashed waves of incitement directed at the youths and their families, according to EIPR.
In a bid to defuse local hostility and avoid fallout, families and church officials handed the youths over to the Samalout police station on Oct. 6, EIPR said.
Local leaders held a customary reconciliation session attended by priests from the Samalout Diocese, Islamic clerics from the Ministry of Endowments, and village elders, during which the diocese issued a formal apology to the village’s Muslim residents.
Even so, the Supreme State Security Prosecution interrogated the youths on Oct. 10, remanded them in pre-trial detention pending investigation, issued a subsequent detention extension, and ultimately decided to release them.