Egyptian security forces have arrested a confectioner who provided cupcakes with penis decorations for a private birthday party at a sports club in a wealthy Cairo area.
In the latest example of the Egyptian state’s efforts to control public morality, which tends to target women, the female chef was arrested at her home after partygoers took photos of the cupcakes with members of the Gezira club and on shared on social media.
State media reported that security forces identified the baker after taking statements from eyewitnesses.
The case caught the attention of Youth and Sports Minister Dr Ashraf Sobhy, who oversees clubs such as Gezira. Sobhy said his department would set up a committee to investigate the incident and punish suspected offenders.
The baker was questioned by the same criminal court that Egyptian actor Rania Youssef recently executed on charges of ‘contempt for Islam and the violation of Egyptian family values’, after commenting on her own physique during a television program.
Earlier this month, two female TikTok influencers who had served prison sentences for “violating family values” and harming public morals were acquitted.
In June 2020, famed belly dancer Sama El Masry was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 300,000 Egyptian pounds (equivalent to £ 14,025) for violating family values and ‘immorality’.
Egypt’s tabloids were delighted to publish photos of the cupcakes, with the offending decorations fading. The largest newspaper in Egypt, Al Ahram, described the pastries as ‘obscene and immoral forms’.
Timothy E Kaldas of the Tahrir Institute for Policy in the Middle East said: ‘On one level, it is difficult not to be struck initially by the absurdity of penis cupcakes that attract the attention of public prosecutors, police investigators, MPs and the press controlled by the government. The crux of the matter is not the prohibition of sexuality in the public sphere; it restricts sexuality that is beyond the control of men. ”
The newspaper Al Masry Al Youm reported that the pastry chef was in tears when she arrived at a prosecution office in Cairo. According to the newspaper, she told interrogators that customers of the club ‘came to my shop and gave me photos of genitals and asked me for cakes in this form’.
After questioning by prosecutors, the baker was released on bail of 5,000 EGP (£ 233).