New details are emerging in the case of an Egyptian Coptic Christian who has been sentenced to six years in prison for an online posting deemed offensive to Islam.

Initial reports said that Kerolos Attallah, 29, had posted a photo on Facebook that several people considered insulting to Islam.  Those who were offended reported the posting to authorities who arrested Attallah near his home in a village near Luxor.

Now, information has come out that Attallah did not post the picture, he only clicked the “like” button for a page where someone else had posted the picture.  Attallah did not post the picture himself, did not “like” the actual picture and even removed his “like” of the page when he discovered some Islamic friends were offended.

Safwat Samaan, chairman of Egyptian human rights group Nation Without Borders, said that Attallah had not even posted a single comment on the disputed page.

“The sentence today was a shock not just to Kerolos but to everyone who uses Facebook in Egypt,” Samaan said. “Any person who uses Facebook in Egypt and presses ‘Like’ on any page … can be put into prison for six years.”

The page was called “Knights of the Cross” and is written in Arabic for Christians who convert from Islam.  The page provides encouragement, prayer and Bible Scriptures.