Sama el Masry sentenced to 3 years in prison on immortality charges

CAIRO, June 27 (MENA) - The Economic Misdemeanors Court on Saturday sentenced belly dancer Sama el Masry to three years in prison and fined her EGP 300,000 over inciting debauchery and immortality.

The court also ordered the controversial belly dancer to be put under police surveillance for three years.

Earlier, the Public Prosecution accused her of posting immoral pictures and videos on her social media accounts and violating the Egyptian society’s morals.

On 23 April, El-Masry was arrested for posting sexually suggestive videos on social media, and had her detention renewed multiple times pending investigation.

The prosecutor-general’s office said earlier it received a number of complaints from citizens over El-Masry’s posts.

El-Masry denied the charges, saying the videos had been taken from her mobile phone which was stolen in June 2019.

The controversial belly dancer, who had previously released videos online mocking the Muslim Brotherhood group during the one-year rule of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, claimed that members of the outlawed group were the ones who reported her to the prosecution over her political views.