Belly dance is one of the characteristics that distinguishes the customs of the Arab world, a dance that recalls the Middle East, the desert and the North African countries. Yet if it is done online on social media, it could cost a sentence in Egypt. This is the case, which emerged in recent days, of the 42 year old Sama el Masry. She is one of the most popular belly dancers in Egypt, widely followed on her social channels, by Instagram a Tik Tok.
And it is precisely in this last social platform that Sama el Masry published a video a few weeks ago that portrayed her reproducing the belly dance. The images were considered too urgent for the Egyptian public, so much so that several complaints against the dancer were immediately presented to the Cairo prosecutor’s office.
Among those who remarked and relaunched the complaints, also the parliamentarian John Talaat, according to which Sama would wait for family values and with that video would corrupt Egyptian society: “There is a big difference – said the MP in recent days – between freedom and debauchery”.
The complaints led to a very heavy sentence for the dancer, who was sentenced to three years in prison and over $ 16,500 in fines. The charges are of obscene acts in public, incitement to prostitution and violation of the family values of Egyptian society. The judges’ decision actually split Egyptian public opinion. On the one hand, those who promoted the complaints against Sama El Masry, judging the ballerna not very respectful of Egyptian customs and excessively provocative so as to also attack family values, on the other hand, many are also defending the woman.
The impression, however, is that in Egypt such cases are now on the agenda and do not concern only the judicial sphere, but also the social one. In the middle there is the freedom of the woman, her ability to perform and live her femininity without problems. All in a society, such as the Egyptian one, which has proved extremely conservative in recent years. One case, that of Sama El Masry, which posed many political questions.
In fact, in Egypt there is a risk of paradox: President Al Sisi has always promoted a strong repression against the Muslim Brotherhood, banning the party that perhaps more than any other political force absorbs the conservative demands of society. However, as we have seen since Sama’s condemnation, theories and positions seem increasingly closer to those of political Islam to advance in public opinion.
Also because the case of the belly dancer has not been isolated at all: as emerged from a recent documentary by Al Jazeera, a similar story concerned the twenty year old influencer Haneen Hussam, sentenced to 15 days in prison for showing on Instagram the possibility of publishing live videos.
And then in the Egyptian courts hundreds of complaints are filed against influencers and against many women who are very popular on social networks. Egypt has therefore rediscovered itself more and more conservative, a circumstance not insignificant given that the Arab world has a reference point in the country of the pyramids, above all of a cultural nature.
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