Fatima Naoot

CAIRO — A prominent Egyptian writer was sentenced to three years in prison for criticizing the tradition of slaughtering sheep during Muslim holiday Eid Al-Adha.

Writer Fatima Naoot was also fined LE20,000 (over $2550) after being found guilty of contempt of religion.

The jail sentence is effective immediately, meaning the ex-candidate for parliament is set to be arrested and incarcerated. Naoot, however, will be able to lodge an appeal from behind bars.

In October, she described in a post on her Facebook account Eid Al-Adha’s tradition of slaughtering sheep as the “greatest massacre committed by human beings.”

“[It’s] a yearly massacre because a good man once had a nightmare about his good son, and although the nightmare has passed for the good man and his son, the [sheep] pay their lives as a price for that holy nightmare,” Naoot also wrote in an article in the daily El-Masry El-Youm.

During questioning, Naoot, an outspoken secular figure, admitted writing the Facebook post but denied that her aim was to insult Islam. Naoot argued that humans justified their lust for killing and enjoying the smell of cooking game by attempting to bestow a divine meaning to their actions.

The tradition is in honor of the Prophet Abraham, who Muslims believe was willing to sacrifice his son Ismael to follow God’s command.