(Photo: Still from Regatta, film by El-Sobky productions)
Dokki misdemeanour court last week issued a verdict acquitting Mohamed El-Sobky, one of Egypt’s biggest film producers, while his daughter, Rana El-Sobky, who is also a producer, was sentenced to one-year in prison.
Both were charged with marketing content that has sexually provocative and ethically inappropriate imagery.
Rana El-Sobky was also fined LE10,000 and can be released with a bail of LE5,000 pending the appeal.
On his personal Facebook page, El-Sobky stated that although he respects the court’s decision, he intends to file for an appeal against the verdict to prove his daughter’s innocence, and that he will continue to produce films in what he deems “a difficult time in Egyptian cinema.”
The trial was commenced last October by plaintiff attorney Samir Sabry, and centred on the Sobky's film Regatta, which was released on 21 January 2015. The film was regarded as ethically and socially inappropriate.
According to the privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper, the court said that Regatta did not comply with the Censorship Authority’s law regulations, as it contains banned phrases and sentences.
The film, which stars Mahmoud Hemida, Rania Youssef, and Amr Saad, reportedly garnered over LE4 million at the box office, according to cinema.com website.
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