Mickey Mouse tweet lands Egyptian billionaire in court
January 10th, 2012 - 10:02 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattCairo, Jan 10 (THAINDIAN NEWS) An Egyptian billionaire is going on trial for “insulting” Islam on Twitter. Coptic Christian Naguib Sawiris, regarded as one of the wealthiest men in Egypt, tweeted the image of Mickey and Minnie Mouse but the country’s leaders say he insulted Islam in the process.
In the image that he posted months ago, Mickey had a long beard with Minnie sporting a face veil and a head cover. Sawiris’ lawyers say the country’s prosecutors forwarded the case to court on Monday.
When Sawiris initially posted the image, it drew a large condemnation prompting him to remove the image and apologize. Human rights groups say with the apology, the country’s prosecutors should not have gone forward with the prosecution.
Human rights lawyer Gamal Eid told reporters that, “It was a joke, the reaction was surprising and strong, and he apologized and took it down, which showed good intentions. The same prosecutors that are moving so quickly on this case have had other cases on their plate for months, but they’ve been dealing with them really slowly.”
Observers say Egypt is gradually moving to Islamic rule. Hosni Mubarack’s rule came to an end earlier this year following days of deadly clashes.
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