An Egyptian actress said she was facing a public obscenity accusation in her clothes and said she did not intend to offend anyone and appealed to her critics to believe her goodwill. In a Facebook post on Saturday night, Rania Youssef said she might have misjudged that at the closing ceremony of this year’s Cairo International Film Festival, people would react to the clothes she wore. She showed her entire leg through embroidered gauze. She said that when she chose this dress, she mentioned the fashion designers who might be affected according to the tastes and standards of the International Film Festival.
“I want to repeat my commitment to the values and ethics proposed by Egyptian society,” Yusuf said, not apologizing for his statement.
The image of Youssef at the event was widely spread on social media, prompting a group of lawyers to file a complaint with the chief prosecutor, who quickly sent the actress to trial. Many complaints last for months or more before any action is taken, so swift action betrays the urgency of appeasing the aspirations of offenders. Yusuf will expire on January 12.
The case is the latest example of the seemingly secular authority’s acceptance of religious conservatism in Muslim-majority Egypt. In 2013, the army overthrew under the leadership of then-President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. A freely elected but divided Islamic president.
Since being selected into the office in 2014, el-Sissi has been supervised, thousands of Islamists and many secular democratic activists have been imprisoned, and the victory of the uprising of the 2011 uprising has been reversed, which upturned 29 The rule of the year’s dictator Hosni Mubarak.
However, although the el-Sissi government embraced almost too much forced opposition to political Islam, it showed great tolerance for extremely conservative Muslims. As we all know, Salafes has been quietly working for decades to gradually and non-violently turn Egypt into a society that observes the early purist rules of early 7th century in Islam.
As we all know, El-Sissi is a Muslim observer who has always quoted the name of God in his speech, but he often appeals to the country’s most senior clergy to modify the words of Islam to eliminate literature that incites hatred or violence. As president, he said in a television interview before his election in June 2014: “I will be responsible for (national) values, ethics, principles and religion.”
At the same time, the Egyptian Actors Association said in a statement that it intends to investigate and train actors who wear “unsuitable” clothing during the opening and closing ceremonies of the week-long film festival. They think they are “social traditions,” There is a conflict between values and ethics.
“Although we absolutely believe in the individual freedom of artists, we call on everyone to take responsibility for fans who appreciate their art and see them as role models,” the weekend statement said. “This should force them to make a minimum commitment to the public value of society.”
On the weekend, Yusuf’s dress and the news of her upcoming trials led the conversation on the social media network, becoming the front page of several newspapers on Sunday and becoming the subject of several columns.