(Photo Public Domain)
The Agouza Misdemeanour Court sentenced Sunday the dancer, Salma Al-Foly, and two others to one year in prison, after charging them with “harming public morals” and inciting “debauchery”.
Al-Foly was featured in a music video clip dubbed “Sib Edi” (Let go of my hand), which went viral online. The video includes an Arabic cover of Indian pop song “Jugni Ji”, originally by Kanika Kapoor.
After an arrest warrant was sent out for her and the video’s director, Al-Foly was arrested in a cafe in the Mohandessin district of Cairo, and was in court two days later.
One of the other two defendants is director Wael El-Sedik, who fled to Tunisia after the video was heavily criticised as scandalous.
Despite the accusations of “debauchery” against El-Foly, which is frequently a vague charge used against individuals involved with prostitution or indecency, the video does not contain any nudity or sex scenes.
The prosecution also ordered the arrest of other contributors, including the director and an assistant, to the video.
The low production homemade video was posted on Wael El-Sedik’s private YouTube channel on 18 May, and has been viewed over 1.5m times. El-Sedik is the video’s producer and director, as well as the main male performer.
Hours ahead of the verdict he wrote on his Facebook page: “This is the first time for someone to be prosecuted because of a video clip on YouTube that included dancing and singing.” He also criticised the country’s Prosecutor General who “transformed the video into a crime”.
El-Sedik also criticised what he called “Egyptian film makers such as Mohamed Al-Sobki and Haifaa Wahbi”, who according to El-Sedik “cannot be touched”.
Al-Sobki is a prominent Egyptian film producer, known for huge blockbusters featuring belly dancers and sensational scenes. Haifaa Wahbi is a Lebanese actress and singer, known also for wearing revealing outfits and dancing seductively. Wahbi is starring in a Ramadan series, while Al-Sobki is preparing to release a new film next month.
Previously, El-Sedik was interviewed by TV presenter Wael Al-Ibrashi, where he denied that he had directed a “sexual video”, and argued that he did not mean to “offend any morals”.
