Samia Ahmed Attia Abdel Rahman Hadaka, ( ar, سامية أحمد عطية عبد الرحمن حداقه)
known as Sama Elmasry, is an Egyptian actress, singer and
belly dancer
Belly dance (Egyptian Arabic: رقص بلدي, translated: Dance of the Country/Folk Dance, romanized: Raks/Raas Baladi) is a dance that originates in Egypt. It features movements of the hips and torso. It has evolved to take many different f ...
.
Career
She began to work at
Mehwar TV Channel following her graduation from the Faculty of Arts and has also appeared in three cinema films since 2008.
Controversies
The 2011 film ''Ala Wahda We Nos (على واحدة ونص), written by Sama and also featuring Sama in the lead role and in criticism of the sexual exploitation of female media workers, was condemned by various segments of the Egyptian society.
Al-Azhar
Al-Azhar Mosque ( ar, الجامع الأزهر, al-Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, lit=The Resplendent Congregational Mosque, arz, جامع الأزهر, Gāmiʿ el-ʾazhar), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic ...
called on spectators to boycott the film for its allegedly obscene content and the journalists' union claimed that the film was degrading the profession. Action was taken by Sayed Khatab, the head of the Censorship Board of Artistic Works on the call of the journalists' union and a "revised" edition could be released by 14 March 2012.
By 2013, Sama started to produce satirical YouTube videos in criticism of the
FJP government,
Muslim Brotherhood, and other
Islamist factions and with her fourth video, featuring her wearing a
headscarf
A headscarf is a scarf covering most or all of the top of a person's, usually women's, hair and head, leaving the face uncovered. A headscarf is formed of a triangular cloth or a square cloth folded into a triangle, with which the head is cov ...
and also a
niqab, she received death threats, because she was, "as a hooker, making fun of
hijab".
Sama gained international notoriety when her video criticising
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
's policy towards Egypt and declaring support for the stance of
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi; (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. Before retiring as a general in the Egyptian mil ...
went viral on the Internet in early August 2013.
In April 2014, she was detained "pending an investigation into an unlicensed television channel allegedly owned by her." This was because she had made a video mocking Mortada Mansour, the head of the Zamalak sports club, whether because she disliked him, or because he briefly planned to run for president against al-Sisi. She sings "Ya Mortada, Ya Mortada" to the tune of the Arabo-Turkish song, "Ya Mustafa" with some suggestive lyrics, first in a long gown and then in a Zamalak football team t-shirt and playing with a soccer ball. She also mocked comedian Bassem Youssef. She was fined, but returned to the celebrity circuit and more outrageous videos.
On 23 April 2020, she was sued for libel and defamation by an Egyptian TV presenter Reham Saeed. On the next day, she was arrested. On 27 June 2020, she was sentenced to serve three years in jail, and obligation to pay 300 thousand Egyptian pounds.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masry, Sama
1976 births
Living people
Egyptian television actresses
Egyptian film actresses
People from Sharqia Governorate
Egyptian female dancers
Belly dancers