Tunisia woman gets six months in jail for Covid-Quran post
A Tunisian woman was Tuesday sentenced to half a year in jail over a parody posted on Facebook linking the Quran and COVID-19.
A Tunis court found Emna Charki, 27, guilty of offending religion and "incitement to hatred" in a May 4 satirical post entitled "the Corona Surah", mimicking the Quran in mention of the illness.
"There's no difference between kings and slaves, follow science and ignore traditions," a passage reads.
Charki, who's not in custody and has 10 days to appeal, was also fined 2,000 dinars (US$750).
Appearing in a red Che Guevara t-shirt, she told reporters she would file an appeal against the "illogical" sentence.
"In a country of freedom, where in fact the constitution guarantees freedom of expression... and women's rights, they condemn me, a woman free in my own beliefs," she said, visibly shaken up.
She and her mother said these were preparing to re-locate of the apartment they share as their landlord wanted them out because of the court case.
"My daughter's future is destroyed," said Charki's mother, wearing a blue headscarf. With the conviction, "she'll no longer have the ability to work or even to walk the road freely."
Emna Charki said the authorities had failed to do something against threats she had been receiving.
Former MP Bochra Belhaj Hmida was among those who stood up on her behalf.
"In the end that Tunisia's youth have done because of this country, the hunger for freedom they've shown, it's unbelievable that decisions can be taken predicated on obsolete anti-freedom laws," she told AFP.
"It's as if nothing has changed, a decade after the revolution, six following the constitution and a grand debate on individual freedoms," she said, referring to a 2014 compromise basic law guaranteeing "freedom of belief, of conscience" but also the protection of religion.
Tunisia sometimes appears as a rare democratic success story of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, which toppled dictators in a number of states.
Amnesty International in addition has criticised Charki's trial, saying her Facebook post was "a humorous text that imitates the verses of Quran to create fun of the COVID-19 situation."
It was "without having incitement to hatred or violence," Amnesty said. The post was "designed to be funny and it even includes a demand staying home and washing hands."
The novel coronavirus has claimed 50 lives and infected more than 1,300 persons in Tunisia.--AFP
