Model Salma el-Shimy becomes latest woman to face trial for violating ‘Egyptian family values’

Police personnel detained model and influencer Salma el-Shimy on Monday on charges that her content online constitutes “debauchery” and a “violation of family values.”

“The accusations against Salma el-Shimy are vague,” said lawyer Hany Sameh, who has worked on similar cases in the past, and spring from “ vestiges of regressive male chauvinism that is uncompromising against women.”

Now awaiting trial in the economic circuit of Alexandria’s criminal court, Shimy, who has a million followers on Facebook and over 3 million on TikTok, is also battling charges in an existing case following her 2020 arrest over photos and videos criticized by some social users and prosecuted by authorities as contrary to public morality.

Shimy is among many low- and middle-income women who have faced detention and trial over recent years on the basis of morality charges leveled at their work online, said three people working on advocacy for content creators in similar legal contests.

Security forces detained Shimy for the first time in November 2020 after she published a photo shoot taken at the Saqqara archaeological site, which spread widely on social media and sparked controversy among users who condemned her for wearing “revealing” clothing.

“My psychological state is devastated because of the case, and despite that, I was confident that I would be released, because I did nothing wrong. I released my photos on social media based on similar pictures I saw by artists from the past,’ Shimy told the press after her release on bail the following month.

Shimy, who graduated from nursing school in 2018 before pursuing a career in fashion and modeling, returned to Egypt on Monday from Dubai, where she was trying to file for residency, and was detained on arrival at Cairo International Airport, according to a photographer working with the model in the United Arab Emirates, who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity.

She is now due to face criminal trial under the 2018 cybercrime law, legislation which has been used since 2020 to target women from low-income backgrounds who publish content on social media, said Lobna Darwish, a gender and human rights officer at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.

If convicted, Shimy could face up to five years and LE300,000 in fines for “violating public morality,” and another six months in prison and up to LE100,000 for “infringing on family principles and values in Egyptian society.”

But what Shimy has done to elicit the charges is unclear. The legislation is ambiguous in its articulation of the standards being upheld, said Sameh, a member of the Lawyers Syndicate’s committee on freedoms. “Are these the values of Egypt in the 1960s, the values of the families of the upper class and residents of resorts, or the values of Salafists?” Sameh pointed out that Shimy's attire is no different from the clothing worn by other artists and actresses on TV and in the media, which raises concerns about the standard being enforced.

“The law doesn’t necessarily state what specific actions are criminalized,” said Darwish, but it has produced a general pattern since 2020, whereby low-income women face criminalization for their online content creation.

The loophole leaves content creators vulnerable to campaigns launched on social media, EIPR has noted, citing as an example lawyer Ashraf Farahat, “who is known to pursue women content creators on social media, especially those who come from poor socioeconomic backgrounds.” Similarly, a lawyer by the name of Abdel Rahman al-Gohary lodged complaints with the public prosecutor that were cited in the trial of TikTok creators Haneen Hossam and Mowada al-Adham.

Farahat was among social media users expressing support for Shimy’s arrest, under the hashtag, “cleansing society.” Farahat claimed that authorities confiscated and searched her mobile phone, took her clothing and ordered the seizure of the camera equipment used for the “offensive” footage, while alleging that she had multiple bank accounts and sums of foreign currency which she had received for her TikTok content.

“This is part of the continued targeting of girls and women of the middle class and below, to sow fear in citizens,” said defense lawyer Makarios Lahzy, who has provided advocacy for detainees in similar cases. “Such fear opens the door for men to oppress women and minorities, since these state laws do not protect them.”