Egypt to free Lebanese woman imprisoned for sexual harassment claim on Facebook

 A Lebanese tourist who was sentenced to eight years in prison for posting a video on Facebook the authorities claimed insulted the country will be freed, the state-run MENA news agency said on Sunday.

A Cairo court in July found Mona al-Mazbouh guilty of spreading false rumours harmful to society, attacking religion and public indecency. Mazboh was arrested at Cairo airport at the end of her stay in Egypt after posting a 10-minute video in which she complained of sexual harassment and conditions in Egypt.

Reuters reported that on appeal, the court reduced her sentence to one year and suspended it, according to MENA.

In the video, 24-year-old Mazbouh complained of being sexually harassed by taxi drivers and young men in the street, as well as poor restaurant service during the holy month of Ramadan and an incident in which money was stolen from her during a previous stay.

Her lawyer, Emad Kamal, said that Mazbouh would be able to leave Egypt "within days" after paying 30,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,670) in fines, AFP reported.

Mazbouh's allegations drew angry reactions online, with some Egyptians calling for her arrest and lodging a complaint against her.

Still, she released a second video insisting that she had not meant to insult the country as a whole.

Egyptian rights activists say they face the worst crackdown in their history under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, accusing him of erasing freedoms won in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.

Supporters say such measures are needed to stabilise Egypt after years of turmoil that drove away foreign investors and amid a militant threat concentrated in the Sinai Peninsula.

Still, a statement issued last month by Egypt's highest religious authority denouncing sexual harassment may be a turning point in efforts to crack down on abuse against women, activists said.

Al-Azhar, which has huge influence over Egypt's mostly Muslim population and trains most of the country's imams, took to Facebook and Twitter to unequivocally denounce the practice of harassing women.

"The holy al-Azhar asserts that criminalising harassment must be absolute regardless of the context or conditions," the statement reads.

"Blaming harassment on a woman's clothing or behaviour is a wrong way of thinking. Harassment is an attack on a woman's privacy as well as her dignity and freedom. This appalling phenomenon also leads to the loss of the sense of security."

Al-Azhar called for putting anti-harassment laws to use and punishing perpetrators

In 2014, Egypt passed a law punishing harassment with up to five years in jail, but the law is rarely put into action, according to Human Rights Watch.

"Sexual harassment and violence against women remained endemic," the rights group said in a report earlier this year.