Ballet dancer acquitted of “undermining family values” and “inciting debauchery”
The Ismailia Economic Court on Wednesday acquitted Basant Rahmy, a former Cairo Opera House ballet dancer and performing artist, of charges including “misusing social media and undermining Egyptian family values,” “violating public decency,” and managing and using electronic accounts on social media platforms to promote content involving “incitement to vice and debauchery,” according to a statement by the She and the Law Initiative.
The acquittal comes amid what the She and the Law Initiative describes as a rise in prosecutions targeting women and content creators over their presence on digital platforms, using broad legal concepts such as “family values,” “public morals” and “offending public decency” to prosecute content that in some cases is connected to their work and artistic performances.
The case dates back to May, when Rahmy posted a video appealing to the Ministry of Interior after she was assaulted by a colleague in her performance troupe at a hotel in Sharm El-Sheikh.
Rahmy went to the police station to file a report over the assault, only to find officers confiscating her phone and detaining her. The colleague she accused of assaulting her had arrived first and accused Rahmy of posting indecent dance videos on her TikTok account.
The assault case was eventually settled through reconciliation. But Rahmy then found herself under investigation in a separate report, filed against her by a criminal investigations officer who attached roughly 25 videos and photos pulled from her personal Facebook and TikTok accounts. The report accused her of “misusing social media and undermining the values of the Egyptian family.”
The Public Prosecution ordered her held for four days, pending investigation, before an appeals judge later released her on bail of 5,000 Egyptian pounds ($96).
Human rights lawyer Fatma Serag of the She and the Law Initiative, who is representing Rahmy, told Al Manassa that the trial featured substantive arguments for acquittal, including Rahmy’s university enrollment certificate, certificates of merit she received from Cairo University and arts festivals, and evidence that she worked with the Egyptian Opera House’s performance arts troupe between 2023 and 2025.
Serag rejected Interior Ministry allegations that Rahmy made money from posting videos on TikTok, saying she demonstrated to the court that criminal investigations had found no electronic wallets associated with the platforms on her accounts. The investigation found only 900 pounds (about $17) in a Vodafone Cash wallet.
“We used that trivial sum to refute the accusation,” Serag added. “It doesn’t make sense that someone would earn just nine hundred pounds from posting dozens of videos.”
Rahmy’s lawyer said her defense also hinged on exposing fabrications and contradictions in Rahmy’s arrest report. “The report claimed Basant was arrested at the Delta Sharm tourist village, when in fact she was apprehended inside the Sharm El-Sheikh police station, while she was filing a report against the very colleague who’d reported her to the police.”
The defense also argued that the search of Rahmy’s phone and accounts was invalid because it had not been authorized in advance by the Public Prosecution and was carried out by an investigations officer without the involvement of specialized technicians.
The founder of the She and the Law Initiative said the case reflects a broader pattern of targeting women online through vague accusations related to “morals and values.”
“We repeatedly see in the investigations in these cases a statement saying the arrest took place as part of a campaign directed by the Interior Ministry to monitor content creators. That means we are dealing with a systematic campaign, not isolated incidents,” she said.
Serag criticized Article 25 of the Anti-Information Technology Crimes Law, which concerns “violating Egyptian family values,” arguing that the provision is unconstitutional because it is overly broad and used for intimidation. She said the issue also overlaps with previous rights groups’ demands that the Public Prosecution and Interior Ministry stop prosecuting content creators.