Tunisia arrests young woman who made up fake Quran verses about coronavirus

A Tunisian woman sparked outrage on social media after she published fake verses from the Quran about coronavirus.

2 min read

06 May, 2020

The fake Qur'anic verses sparked outrage on social media [Twitter/@DocSkark7]

Tunisian authorities have arrested a young woman for publishing fake verses of the Quran about the novel coronavirus.

Amna Al-Sharqi will be investigated by the Tunisian public prosecution, El Bashayer reported, for posting a text on her Facebook page entitled "Surah Corona".

Al-Sharqi sparked outrage on social media for the fake verses and even received death threats.

Tunisian public opinion was reportedly divided, with a majority demanding Al-Sharqi be tried for the "desecration of the Quran", according to El Bashayer.

A minority of Tunisians voiced the opinion that her act falls under freedom of expression.

Al-Sharqi confirmed that she had received death threats for writing the text.

She said on Facebook that what she had published was not a distortion of the Quran, stressing that it did not include the word "God" or "religion".

The Quran is considered by Muslims to be the word of God and any revision or addition to the text is considered sacrilegious by most followers.

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Tunisian officials announced a partial easing of lockdown measures enacted to curb the spread of novel coronavirus last week, although schools will remain closed until September.

Tunisia has officially declared 1,022 cases of Covid-19 including 43 deaths and has put strict social distancing measures in place, including a night-time curfew.

Tunisia's Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh had said earlier this month that lockdown measures would be progressively eased after 3 May.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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