famous Egyptian belly dancer has been put in prison. court in Cairo, Egypt sentenced Sama el-Masry to three years behind bars. It also fined her 300,000 Egyptian pounds, which is about $18,500. Ms El-Masry was arrested by police in Egypt in April. Police charged her with immorality after she posted videos on video-sharing platform TikTok. videos showed her performing various belly dances. Egypt has recently decided to crack down on social media posts. Egypt's Public Prosecution office accused Ms El-Masry of posting immoral pictures and videos on her social media accounts. It said she was guilty of breaking Egypt's morals because videos were "sexually suggestive".
Sama el-Masry is 42 years old. As well as being belly dancer, she is also actress and starred in three successful movies. One of movies was about unfair treatment of female media workers. It created lot of debate in Egypt about rights of women in workplace. She also got lot of criticism in the past for posting videos on YouTube about her political views. One of videos mocked former US President Barack Obama for his policy towards Egypt. women's rights lawyer in Egypt defended Ms El-Masry. She said: "Our conservative society is struggling with technological changes which have created completely different environment and mindsets."
