Sherif Gaber

Gaber has been making satirical videos that criticise religions for years. By July 2019, his YouTube channel had over 253,000 subscribers, making him one of the best-known critics of religion in Egypt. With titles such as "Does God exist?", "Evolution and religion are incompatible" and "Criticising religion is a human right", his videos brought him into legal troubles. The Egyptian law against blasphemy, Article 98(f) of the Penal Code, was eventually used to justify his arrest.

In late January 2019, Gaber made an online appeal to aid him financially in order to escape from Egypt with a new nationality, such as that of Dominica, after being stopped at the airport when travelling to Malaysia in 2018. He obtained a few thousand dollars shortly after launching the crowdfunding campaign. However, the action was not progressing according to plan, and on 11 July Gaber made an emotional appeal on Twitter, saying that he had almost lost all hope and was "on the verge of committing suicide" if no help came soon. Mina Ahadi of the Central Council of Ex-Muslims called for solidarity with Gaber, and pleaded with the German government to commence negotiations to get him to Germany or elsewhere in Europe.

On March 31, 2018 Gaber published a tweet about an imminent arrest, call for calm among his supporters and claimed he would "keep making videos when i get out.. i'll write the scripts in prison."

On Saturday May 5, 2018, Gaber was arrested once again and imprisoned. Several media associated his arrest with a large number of arrests around the time of the March 2018 reelection of president El-Sisi, including a fellow satirical video maker named Shady Abuzaid (or Shadi Abuzeid) a week after Gaber.

On October 1, 2018, Gaber tweeted saying that his passport was confiscated at an Egyptian airport, and that he was banned from leaving the country. He also said that there were two "different ongoing blasphemy charges" against him, and that he couldn't share more details. As of October 12, 2018, the total number of felony charges against him, each one of them punishable up to 15 years in Egyptian prison, amounted to five "ranging from blasphemy, insulting Islam, contempt of religion, supporting homosexuality, shaking the peace of the society and 'religious extremism'".

In September 2016, Gaber uploaded on YouTube a video raising the question is ISIS Islamic. The video gained more than 700 thousand views.

On February 16, 2015 Gaber (aged 22) was found guilty and sentenced to one year in jail. He was allowed to appeal if he paid 1,000 LE, but instead Gaber went into hiding. By that time, the rector had quit the university, and claimed he did not recall the 'incident'.

Sherif Gaber (full name: Egyptian Arabic: Sherif Gaber Abdelazim Bakr; شريف جابر عبد العظيم بكر) pronounced [ʃɪˈɾiːf ˈɡæːbeɾ ʕæbdelʕɑˈzˤiːm bɑkɾ] ) born c. 1993, is an Egyptian political activist and blogger who was arrested on October 27, 2013 for professing atheism, contempt of religion relating to activities on campus and atheist statements online.

At 3:00 a.m. on October 27, 2013, three armored state security cars and an army vehicle arrived at Gaber's house. A number of state security agents entered his apartment, conducted a search, and confiscated all of his property, including but not limited to his school papers and documents, books, his PC, mobile phone, and his money. After that they threw him in the car and took him to jail. Gaber claimed the prison guards mistreated him and punished 'every part' of him.

On December 3, 2013, the court agreed to release Gaber after paying 7500 LE (2500 for the "Contempt of Religion" charge and 5000 for "spreading immoral values and abnormal thoughts that provoke and disturb the public peace and the national security of Egypt.") He was released the next day, but his case was ongoing. He was allowed to resume his studies, but suspected the teachers deliberately made him repeatedly fail his tests.

The story about the Jewish village which Gaber talks about is from a 1992 book called السيرة النبوية في ضوء المصادر الأصلية in Arabic, which has been translated under the title A Biography of The Prophet of Islam. It is a widely used source in many Muslim websites. In the book, it talks about how The Prophet and his companions attacked and corned a Jewish village into surrender. The Jewish village after surrender asked what would The Prophet judge them. A Muslim ally of this village told them death, and then the book claims he asked god for forgiveness, probably because he felt guilt about the decision. The Prophet Mohammed ordered that they be murdered, their money to be taken as bounty, except the children who have not yet hit puberty, they are to be taken as slaves. They gathered all the men and women and pubescent children and slit their throats and threw them in a big pit. The books claims only 400 where killed, but cites in footnotes that it is not sure exactly the number, it could be up to 900. The book claims the only survivors of this genocide where 3 because they claimed they are Muslims, two more because the companions of The Prophet protected them from murder, maybe more survived, but not more than one family. The Prophet is quoted in the book as saying "I have done as God commanded". The prepubescent children, the book continues, who were spared death, were sold as slaves in order for The Prophet and his companions to buy more weapons and horses.