CAIRO: Egypt’s prosecutor has referred a female writer to trial for allegedly insulting Islam by criticizing the slaughter of animals during a major religious festival, a judicial official said on Saturday.

“Happy massacre,” Fatima Naoot wrote on her Facebook page in October during Eid Al-Adha.

Animals are slaughtered during Eid to commemorate the willingness of Abraham to fulfil God’s command to sacrifice his own son, although in the end God provided him with a sheep.

Naoot, who is Muslim, deleted her posts from Facebook after controversy erupted about them.

But a judicial official said on Saturday that she admitted during questioning that she had written them.

The 50-year-old columnist denied she had any intention to insult Islam, the official told AFP, adding she had also been charged with “making fun of the right to sacrifice.”

She said that in October she had posted messages on Facebook to congratulate Muslims for Eid Al-Adha but “urged them to respect the offering and not humiliate it by flooding the ground with animal blood.”

Egypt’s constitution outlaws insults against the three monotheist religions recognized by the state — Islam, Christianity and Judaism.