Egypt’s Al-Azhar university disclosed that it had expelled a female student after she appeared in a video hugging a male colleague. The statement released on Sunday accused her of undermining the school’s reputation.
The video, which surfaced online earlier this month, showed a young man carrying a bouquet of flowers kneeling before a young woman and then hugging her in what seemed to be a marriage proposal.
The video was reportedly shot Mansoura University, a branch of Al-Azhar in the country’s north, away from the stricter Al-Azhar.
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The disciplinary council of the Al-Azhar University campus in Mansoura on Saturday wouldn’t have none of that as it “decided to expel the young girl definitively.”
The University’s spokesman, Ahmed Zarie said the video had caused a “public outcry” and that the university’s decision to expel her was because she had presented a “bad image” of Al-Azhar University, which strictly segregates the genders.
He explained that hugging between unmarried men and women violates “the values and principles of society”. He added that the woman can appeal the expulsion decision, Zarie said.
The young man who appeared in the video could also face sanctions, a spokesman for Mansoura University said, adding that the school’s disciplinary council will meet on Monday to decide his “punishment”.
Egypt has always been at the centre of controversies for being too conservative. Last year, prosecutors detained a female singer for four days for “incitement to debauchery” after an online video clip which included sensual oriental dances and suggestive gestures went viral.
Similarly, another female pop singer was made to spend one year in prison on similar charges in 2017, also over a video deemed provocative by local authorities.