An Egyptian court has sentenced a popular TV host to jail for 3 years for discussing ways women can get pregnant if they are not married – a topic the government feels outrages public decency.
Doaa Salah asked viewers on her Al-Nahar TV show ‘With Dody’ if they had considered having sex before marriage. She then suggested that women who wanted kids, but didn’t necessarily want to be married, could marry briefly and then once pregnant get a divorce.
“You simply need to have the money and then separate,” she said, reports Al Arabiya. Salah made the comments during an episode entitled ‘Single Mothers’ in July while sporting a fake baby bump. The show was then suspended for three months.
Salah also suggested paying a potential husband for his services and pointed to the fact sperm donation is an accepted form of insemination in Western countries, though not in her homeland.
READ MORE: Egyptian lawyer says it’s ‘national duty’ to rape women in ripped jeans, sparking fury
At her trial in Cairo on Tuesday, Salah was found guilty of inciting debauchery, with authorities saying that Salah’s suggestions “threatened the fabric of Egyptian life" Egypt’s Filfan reports.
The presenter was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($566) to the lawyer who brought the case against her.
Salah twice before escaped prison sentences for discussing ‘controversial’ topics on her show.