The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) condemned a three-year prison sentence issued by a military court on 28 July against conscript Youssef Saad Haneen for "committing behaviour that is harmful to the order, rules and requirements of the military system". This came after Haneen used what the prosecution said "phrases offensive to Islam" in a private Messenger chat.

The Military Prosecution referred Haneen to trial in Case No. 4019 of 2024 (Military Misdemeanors East of Cairo) in response to a letter from the National Security Agency to the Central Security Agency, in which the Minister of Interior ordered the defendant's dismissal from military service following his trial. The letter, No. 6991/24, was dated 10 May 2014, according to the case file.

The Military Misdemeanor Court convicted Haneen under Article 166 of the Military Justice Law No. 25 of 1966 and its amendments, and Article 94, paragraph 2 of the Civil Police Authority Law No. 109 of 1971, as amended by the Presidential Decree Law No. 130 of 2014.

The EIPR lawyer – in his capacity as an agent for Haneen – argued during the trial that the investigations were invalid due to their lack of seriousness and contradiction with the accusation and the illegality of the evidence derived from private chat messages, per Article 57 of the Constitution and Articles 97, 98 and 206 of the Criminal Procedures Law, as these messages were obtained through the crime of infringing on private life. The defence also stressed the lack of elements of the crime attributed to the defendant, which does not constitute any violation of the military system requirements. The defence further stressed the unconstitutionality of the accusation, arguing that it is one of the broad texts that expand the scope of criminalization in violation of the principle of criminal legality.

Haneen told EIPR that on the occasion of Easter last May, while he was on leave from compulsory military service in his village in Beni Suef governorate, he had a Messenger chat with a Muslim, during which they traded insults. The Muslim published parts of the chat, which were circulated among the villagers, prompting the mayor to intervene and gather representatives of families to calm the tensions. Both sides agreed not to escalate the situation and ended the matter there.

The next day, Haneen returned to the Central Security camp where he was serving. Upon his return, he was taken blindfolded to a National Security office, where he was beaten and insulted during interrogation about what happened in the village. He was asked about the names of Christian preachers he follows and whether he joined any Coptic groups, which Haneen denied.

The Military Prosecution interrogated Haneen on 22 May, confronted him with the chat's content, and referred him to a military trial.

EIPR lawyers filed a grievance with the military ruler's office today, demanding that the prison sentence not be ratified and be overturned and that Haneen be released.