Egypt cuts debauchery jail term for dancer

Cairo (AFP) - An Egyptian appeals court on Sunday halved a jail term for a female dancer convicted of inciting debauchery after she featured in a controversial music video, a court official said.

Reda El-Fouly was arrested in May after wearing a revealing dress as she sang and danced in a video that went viral on the Internet.

In June a lower court sentenced her to one year in jail for inciting debauchery.

That verdict was challenged, and on Sunday a Cairo appeals court reduced the sentence to six months.

The lower court also sentenced her dancing partner Wael El-Sediki, who directed the video, to a year in jail. He is still at large.

In April, an Armenian belly dancer was sentenced to six months for insulting Egypt's national flag during a performance last year.

The dancer, known as Safinaz, was tried for wearing a costume that resembled the tri-coloured flag during a performance last year in the Red Sea resort town of Ain Sokhna.