Egyptian belly dancer sentenced to hard labour for ‘violating morals'
Linda Martino faces a year of hard labour after she was arrested at Cairo airport and accused of 'using seduction techniques and provocative dancing to incite vice'.
Her arrest follows the arrest of other famous belly dancers in Egypt in recent years as the hardline government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi takes a dim view of belly dancing, even though it remains popular in Egypt.
The indictment accuses Martino of appearing 'in indecent clothing, deliberately exposing sensitive areas of her body, in clear violation of public morals and social values.'
Belly dancing can be found in nightclubs and at weddings in Egypt and is considered part of the country's heritage by noted performers such as Amie Sultan, who has campaigned to secure its recognition by Unesco.
However, despite its cultural status, Egyptian women taking up belly dancing face stigma. Safy Akef, an instructor and the great-niece of the 1950s performer Naima Akef, said this month: 'No woman can be a belly dancer today and feel she's truly respected.'
The result is foreign women — mainly from Russia and South America — are increasingly recruited.
Recent arrests have targeted non-Egyptian dancers including Ekaterina Andreeva, a Russian dancer based in Cairo with a million followers on Instagram who was handed a year in jail with hard labour.
Martino was born in Egypt but became an Italian citizen after marrying an Italian businessman, the Italian daily La Repubblica reported.
During an initial hearing, she defended her profession, claiming 'belly dancing is an art, it cannot be a crime. I am a dancer and the videos on which the accusations are based are normal — they show a dance performance that do not go against or violate public morality.'
She added: 'I don't know why Egypt is doing this, but I am also an Italian citizen and at this point I am asking for the Italian consulate to get involved.'
• MPs attack Egypt over illegal detention of activist
Italian media reported the Italian consul in Egypt has asked to visit the dancer. The arrest prompted complaints from opposition politicians in Italy who recalled the arrest in Cairo in 2016 of the Italian Giulio Regeni, a Cambridge doctoral student studying in Egypt.
His battered corpse was found days later by a roadside. Egyptian security officials are on trial in absentia in Italy accused of torturing him to death.
'Linda's arrest is the latest action against the rights of women and human rights by Sisi's government,' said Elisabetta Piccolotti, an Italian MP with the AVS party.
'Giulio Regeni already died in those jails and we cannot downplay the potential consequences of the jailing of this Italian woman who has been accused of violating public morality by a fundamentalist government,' she added.
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