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