Egypt’s Al-Azhar university has confirmed the expulsion of a female
student after she appeared in a video hugging a male colleague, accusing
her of undermining the school’s reputation.

The video, which went viral earlier this month, showed a young man
carrying a bouquet of flowers kneeling before a young woman and then
hugging her in what appeared to be a proposal.

The video was not filmed at Al-Azhar, but at another establishment,
Mansoura University in the country’s north. Nevertheless the
disciplinary council of the Al-Azhar University campus in Mansoura on
Saturday “decided to expel the young girl definitively”, university
spokesman Ahmed Zarie told AFP.

He 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
said hugging between unmarried men and women violates “the values and
principles of society”.

The expelled student, however, 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, a predominantly Muslim country, is a largely conservative
society. 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. And in 2017
another female pop singer was sentenced to two years in prison on
similar charges, also over a video deemed provocative. Her sentence was
reduced to a year on appeal.

An angry twitter user reacts

Egypt’s al-Azhar University just permanently expelled a student for giving her boyfriend a “hug” after he proposed to her. Yes, we are talking about the same country that has one of the worst records of sexual harassment. Deep societal hypocrisy + government’s pathetic policies