A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Friday, October 9, 2015

"The Haifa Wehbe Defense"

The next part of my "On to Baghdad" series is coming later tonight. Meanwhile: Amid the worsening situation in Syria it may be worth offering a lighter topic. You may recall that last summer Egypt arrested and jailed two belly dancers for "inciting debauchery."

Well, now CairoScene reports, the two dancers, sentenced to six months, have had their sentences reduced from six months to three months, using for their appeal videos of Lebanese singer/actress/diva/superstar Haifa Wehbe. The appeal was successful.

This was apparently one of the Haifa Wehbe videos. Apparently the court was persuaded by "the Haifa Wehbe defense." Judge for yourself. I don't get the space imagery, either. But I must hand it to her, as Lebanese grandmothers go (and she now is), Haifa does it better than the tacky dancers who were jailed for nothing more than dubious taste.

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