Egypt

‘Sib Idi’ controversial clip director accuses police of demanding LE100,000 bribe

Wael al-Seddiqi, director of the controversial "Sib Idi" clip, accused four police officers of demanding a LE100,000 bribe in return for their support.
 
According to Seddiqi, both him and the heroine of his clip, Salma al-Fouly, were living their life as normal after the song was displayed.
 
In remarks during the Al-Nashr program on al-Gadded Channel, he added that he was sitting with Fouly in a cafe, two days after the clip was published, when four police officers arrived and attempted to extort LE100,000 from him, threatening that he would otherwise face trouble because of the video.
 
Seddiqi told one of the officers he could not afford such a large sum, but that he could sell his car in 24 hours and provide the money.
 
The police officer gave Siddiqi 48 hours to bring the bribe, threatening that otherwise both him and Fouly would go to jail.
 
Seddiqi addressed the Minister of Interior Magdy Abdel Ghaffar with the following words: "Won't you have mercy on us? There is corruption. I am not saying the entire (police) system is corrupt, but there are corrupt elements in the police. You can protect the citizens from humiliation by police officers, who do it because they have the power."
 
Siddiqi added that the lieutenant told him to "eleminate the file of Salama al-Fouly, otherwise he would take a bribe from other people who want (Seddiqi annd Fouly) to go to jail."
 
He also stated that he would not stand silent and that he is committed to speaking oppenly about the corruption of the officials.
 
The video, made by Involved in the case are Selma al-Fouly, the dancer, American-Egyptian director Wael al-Seddiqy and Ahmed Rizq, the cameraman, had caused uproar among social media users, as the dancer appeared in a short dress which revealed her chest, and her dance moves were considered "suggestive".
 
The video, posted on May 19, has been viewed over 667,000 times.
 
The police arrested al-Fouly in her home on Monday morning, along with the cameraman on charges of producing a “seductive” YouTube clip.
 
 
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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