Egyptian prosecutors Thursday charged the administrator of a Facebook page that supports former autocratic president Hosni Mubarak with spreading false news and undermining national interests after a post implied Mubarak did more to help Egypt's poor than the current government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
Karim Hussein, whose Facebook page "I am sorry, Mr. President" has more than 3 million followers, was arrested Tuesday, a few days after he posted video clips of Mubarak's old speeches, in which he expressed compassion for the poor and voiced his vehement opposition to lifting state subsidies. Mubarak was forced from power by a pro-democracy uprising in 2011.
The post came on the heels of the government's decision to raise fuel prices by up to 30 percent for the fourth time in three years a move expected to inflict further pain on Egypt's middle class and poor.
"This is not first time (Hussein has) published online, but the catastrophe happened when he compared prices under Mubarak and el-Ssisi," said Gamal Eid, an Egyptian human rights lawyer. "Then, he became accused of spreading false news. In fact, it is not false news and he has not committed any crime. He is just expressing his views."
Earlier this week, Hussein posted a photograph of Mubarak holding the trophy of the African Cup of Nations and surrounded by Egypt's triumphant national soccer team, which won the African tournament several times under Mubarak's rule.
The post alluded to the early elimination of Egypt's national team from the current tournament, which Egypt is hosting. The defeat has been a source of embarrassment for the Egyptian government, which had hoped that hosting the tournament as well as winning it might boost its popularity.
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