On 3 April 2023, security forces at the Cairo airport arrested model and blogger Salma ElShimy upon her return from the UAE, based on a police investigation report accusing her of publishing immoral photos and videos on social media.
ElShimy was brought before the Financial and Administrative Affairs Prosecution in Alexandria, where she officially resides. The prosecution remanded her in custody for four days pending investigation.
ElShimy was referred to the Economic Misdemeanour Court in Alexandria, which on 18 April sentenced her to two years in prison and ordered her to pay a fine of 100,000 pounds on charges of filming and broadcasting obscene videos online in exchange for money, and violating family values and principles, on the grounds that her footage incited debauchery and sexual arousal by showing parts of her body.
On 25 June 2023, the Economic Misdemeanour Court of Appeal in Alexandria issued a ruling accepting the appeal filed by ElShimy and annulling the previously issued six-year prison sentence and 100,000-pound fine. The court also ruled that the Alexandria Economic Court has no jurisdiction to examine the lawsuit filed against ElShimy, and referred the case to the Cairo Economic Court, which will examine it next July.
On November 11, 2023, the Cairo Economic Court ruled to accept Salma ElShimy’s appeal against her two-year prison sentence and a fine of 300,000 pounds. It canceled her imprisonment and reduced the value of the fine to 100,000 pounds.
ElShimy, 29, works as a fashion model and she posts photos and videos of herself on social media. She was previously arrested for publishing photos taken near the Saqqara Pyramid in Giza.
