Egyptian groom springs IS kidnap prank on bride

[OneStepCloser]

Egyptian groom springs IS kidnap prank on bride

Bride in shock as guests disguised as Islamist fighters act out abduction

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 05 March, 2015, 10:08pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 05 March, 2015, 10:08pm

The Guardian in Cairo

The couple dance in a cage. Photo: SCMP Pictures

The threat that Islamic State poses to Egypt has become ever more apparent in recent weeks.

The group's murder of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya last month, as well as the killing of at least 30 soldiers by an IS-affiliate in Egypt's north Sinai desert, brought the group's once-distant terror seem much closer to home.

But while fear is a common response for many, one Egyptian wanted to laugh in the face of adversity. And he decided his own wedding was the best forum in which to do so.

In an attempt to surprise and entertain his bride and their guests, Ahmed Shehata, a 25-year-old medical graduate, arranged for his relatives to dress up as IS militants and pretend to kidnap his new wife at their wedding this week.

To the soundtrack of the notorious IS anthem, masked men entered the wedding of Shaimaa Deif, a 23-year-old medical graduate, and strong-armed her and Shehata into a cage reminiscent of the one in which a Jordanian pilot was burnt alive last month.

"I knew there would be a surprise," she later told reporters, after a video of the stunt went viral on Egyptian social media. "But I never imagined that the surprise would be like that."

Fake jihadists invade. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Deif's momentary panic soon subsided into amusement after the music merged into a dance-track, one of the masked men revealed himself as her brother, and it turned out the groom had been in on the prank all along.

Deif admitted that she had not expected the dark cloth that she had given her fiancé in the run-up to the wedding to be used to make fake IS masks: "I thought it was for something romantic."

But she gamely argued that the prank sent a strong message to IS and its supporters. "The cage you're scaring us with, we are dancing inside it," said Deif.

But some Egyptians have reacted angrily to the prank, arguing it was in poor taste given the recent massacre of 21 Egyptians in Libya, and murder of several more on Egyptian soil by unknown perpetrators this week.

But Deif argued: "We aren't making light of other people's blood. We're showing we're not scared, and Egyptians meet any crisis with laughter and comedy."

Deif's father, Mohamed, a doctor, was less amused - rushing across the wedding hall to save his daughter in the belief IS was really about to kidnap her. But the groom said that once his father-in-law realised, he relaxed. "He was happy because it was such a new idea," said Shehata.

By dressing up as pretend IS fighters, Shehata said his friends had given IS a loud and clear message: "Whatever happens because of this [massacre], you are not going to scare us," Shehata said. "We will scare you, because our enjoyment, our happiness and our weddings will continue whatever you do."

The wedding antics are among several attempts by Egyptians to use humour to undermine IS's image. Others have uploaded IS's anthem to YouTube, and overlaid it with incongruous footage, including that of old movie footage, belly-dancers, singing schoolchildren, and a gyrating news presenter.