Egyptian prosecutors on Wednesday questioned an actress for around four hours on accusations of public obscenity over a dress she wore to a cinema gala last week, her lawyer said.
Actress Rania Youssef was later allowed to go free after the questioning, pending completion of the investigation, her lawyer Shaban Said said.
Shaban said Rania still faces trial on January 12, and could possibly face up to five years in prison if convicted.
An initial complaint was filed by a group of lawyers well known in Egypt for moral vigilantism, but they said they withdrew their complaint on Tuesday.
The lawyers, Wahid al-Kilani, Hamido Jameel al-Prince, Amr Abdel Salam and Samir Sabry, said they decided to forego legal action after Youssef made a public statement.
Rania in her statement said she did not mean to offend anyone with her dressing.
The dress was a long black see-through one that revealed up to her thighs.
She wore the dress for the closing ceremony of this year’s Cairo International Film Festival.
Images of Rania in the dress went viral on social media soon after.
Her case prompted Egypt’s Actors Guild to declare it intended to investigate and discipline actors who wore “inappropriate” attire during the opening and closing ceremonies of the week-long film festival, arguing that they clashed with “traditions, values and ethics of the society.”
