CAIRO – An Egyptian actress is set to face trial in January for wearing asee-through dress at the Cairo film festival this week that showed herlegs, a judicial source said Saturday.
Rania Youssef appeared at the closing session Thursday of the CairoInternational Film Festival wearing a revealing black lacy dress over atight black body with her legs showing underneath.
This prompted two lawyers to lodge a suit against her accusing the actressof “inciting debauchery”, a charge that could land her in jail for up tofive years if she is convicted, the source said.
The first lawsuit alleging obscenity was filed by lawyer Amro Abdelsalamand the second by Samir Sabri, another attorney known for takingcelebrities to court.
Sabri told AFP that Youssef’s appearance “did not meet societal values,traditions and morals and therefore undermined the reputation of thefestival and the reputation of Egyptian women in particular”.
The dress Youssef wore at the closing session of the 40th edition of theCairo Film Festival on Thursday night sparked widespread criticism onsocial media.
They Egyptian Actors’ Syndicate also weighed in, without naming Youssef orany other celebrity.
“The appearance of some of the festival’s guests did not agree with thetraditions and values of the society, and this has undermined the festivaland the union which is responsible for its members behaviour,” it said in astatement.
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Youssef, who is a member of the union, later issued an “apology” on herofficial Twitter account to the “many (people) angered” by her appearance.
“I probably miscalculated when I chose to wear this dress. It was the firsttime that I wore it and I did not realise it would spark so much anger,”she said.
“I reaffirm my commitment to the values upon which we were raised inEgyptian society,” she added.
Egypt is a largely conservative society.
Earlier this year, prosecutors detained a female singer for four days for”incitement to debauchery” after an online video clip which includessensual oriental dances and suggestive gestures went viral.
Last year another female pop singer was sentenced to two years in prison onsimilar charges, also over a video deemed provocative. Her sentence wasreduced to a year on appeal. – APP / AFP
