Al-Azhar Observatory (Photo: Al-Ahram)
In a statement on Monday, the observatory said an Argentine citizen identified as “Yanina” became the target of what it described as an organized campaign of “digital terror,” including direct death threats and the doxxing of her underage son.
According to the statement, Yanina — who was raised within Argentine society — did not anticipate that her personal religious choice would turn into grounds for threats against her life.
The ordeal began when an extremist account on the social media platform X singled her out as part of what it claimed was an “Islamic invasion,” the observatory said.
The campaign escalated from hate speech to doxxing, with perpetrators publishing Yanina’s personal data, photographs, and images of her child, while branding the boy a “future terrorist,” the statement added.
The observatory said the attackers went further by sending direct death threats to Yanina via Instagram, calling for her killing and deportation.
It also pointed to the unexplained disappearance of her private WhatsApp conversations, suggesting possible surveillance or hacking attempts, as well as messages from anonymous accounts hinting they were located near her in Buenos Aires.
As a result, Yanina was forced into what the observatory described as “coerced isolation,” shutting down her social media accounts and preventing her child from wearing his favourite sports shirt linked to Palestine out of fear of being identified.
Faced with escalating threats, Yanina turned to the judiciary, filing a complaint registered under charges of “threats accompanied by discrimination,” the statement said.
In its commentary on the case, the Al-Azhar observatory warned of the dangers of digital hatred evolving into organized societal terrorism, stressing that the targeting of women and children constitutes a grave violation of human rights.
It also called for the enforcement of strict laws against hate speech, cautioning that leniency in pursuing incitement risks normalizing digital violence and undermining the model of coexistence and pluralism that Argentina has long prided itself on.
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