DUBAI // A video of an Egyptian actress being told off by Emirati women for allowing her underwear to show at Dubai Mall has been making the rounds on social media.
The 82-second clip shows actress Abeer Sabry, 44, with a friend standing at a cash register at a retail store talking with an Emirati woman, whose face is hidden behind the camera. It is not clear who is filming.
Ms Abeer is wearing a long black dress but reports on social media said that before the footage was taken, she was in the fitting room trying on an outfit and had walked in to the store area in her underwear to find another size.
According to reports, the Emirati woman urged Ms Abeer not to leave the dressing room in her underwear before calling security but the actress did so three times.
In the video, the Emirati woman tells Ms Abeer that her behaviour was unacceptable.
“I am an Emirati woman, you are in my country, you don’t speak. I am speaking in my country, and you don’t wear that kind of clothing,” the woman is heard telling Ms Abeer. “It’s okay in your own country if you want.”
The actress responds: “I wasn’t talking, you are the one who is talking.”
The Emirati said Ms Abeer was being rude and that she had a right to complain, adding that there was a dress code in the country.
UAE law states that recording sound or images in a public or private area is an "assault on the sanctity of an individual or family's private life".
But if the subject knows the recording is being made, their consent is presumed.
newsdesk@thenational.ae