A high-profile Egyptian belly dancer has been sentenced to three years in prison and received a £15,000 fine for sharing photos and videos of herself on social media that were deemed to incite “debauchery” and “immorality” in a country with conservative social norms.
Cairo’s Misdemeanours Economic Court said on Saturday that Sama El-Masry had violated family principles and values with posts that the public prosecution described as sexually suggestive, and that she had managed the social media accounts with the aim of committing “immorality”.
Ms El-Masry, who has over three million Instagram followers, denied the accusations, saying the content was stolen and shared from her phone without consent.
She was arrested in April as part of an investigation into “suggestive” social media posts during a wave of arrests of female Instagram and TikTok stars on charges of promoting debauchery and prostitution on social media.
Read more: The Telegraph
