Brazilian influencer Mariana Alves Gadelha Pereira, known professionally as Malévola Alves, and a traveling companion were detained in Alexandria, Egypt, on Oct. 20, 2026, after Egyptian authorities said videos showed the pair making sexual gestures and harassing people on public streets.
Egypt’s Ministry of Interior confirmed the arrests in a statement posted on its official X account. The ministry said circulating social media videos depicted the two tourists performing acts it classified as “pornographic exhibition,” sexual insinuations and harassment of passersby while walking through streets in different provinces.
According to the ministry, the women admitted during questioning that they recorded and published the videos to increase their online view counts. Legal measures were taken and the case was referred to Egypt’s Public Prosecution for investigation.
Malévola Alves, 22, is a transgender content creator from Brazil with more than 815,000 Instagram followers. She posts lifestyle, humor and travel material. Her companion in the videos and detention has been identified in Brazilian reports as Bruna Mercatelli, also known in some accounts as Bruna Marcatelli.
Before the official confirmation, Alves posted Instagram stories from a police station. She wrote that authorities stopped their van during a tour, took their passports and brought them in for questioning. “We’re at the police station, we’re desperate. I don’t know what’s going to happen or what they’re going to do to us,” she said. She added that officers asked whether she and her friend were transgender.
Her legal team, including lawyer Jonatha Carvalho Matos, stated that it had contacted the Brazilian Embassy in Cairo and other authorities to protect the physical integrity and legal rights of the detainees. Brazil’s Foreign Ministry, known as Itamaraty, said the embassy in Cairo stands ready to provide consular assistance when requested.
A friend of Alves who was not detained, identified in reports as Bruna Tivo, said from outside Egypt that videos of the group had circulated in local Facebook groups and that the women faced hostility linked to their gender identity. Egyptian authorities have not addressed those claims in their public statements.
Alves has faced previous legal trouble in Brazil. In August 2026 she was arrested in flagrante in São Paulo on charges of contempt and bodily injury after a fight in a party VIP area. She was released after paying bail of about 1,600 reais.
As of Oct. 21, 2026, no formal charges beyond the ministry’s description of the alleged conduct had been publicly detailed, and the women remained in Egyptian custody pending the prosecution’s review.
