Egyptian writer Fatima Naoot was referred to a criminal court on Saturday, on charges of contempt of the religion of Islam and disrespect for the ritual of sacrifice. The South Cairo Prosecution said that Naoot had injured the feelings of Muslim Egyptians through the statements she made on the social media, during the al-Adha feast celebrations last October, when she tweeted "Happy Massacre", referring to the religious ritual of sacrificing animals, to commemorate the slaughtering of a sheep that God had provided, to take the place of the son that the Prophet Abraham had dreamt he was meant to slaughter. According to Naoot, the "massacre" was happening because one of the "righteous" men had a nightmare about his son 10 centuries ago and as a result, countless innocent animals lost their lives every year. Naoot denied the charges brought against her and said she hadn't meant to disrespect the Islamic ritual, all she wanted was peace for the innocent animals and this was consistent with the tolerant teachings of Islam. Naoot stated last week that President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi had mandated her and other intellectuals to improve the image of religion, during their meeting with him at the presidential palace.
