Egyptian singer is jailed for inciting debauchery
A court in Cairo has sentenced an Egyptian pop singer to two years in prison for “inciting debauchery” in a racy music video.
Shyma, 21, a little-known singer, was also fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds (Dh2,061).
The director of the clip, Mohamed Gamal, received the same sentence. Both can appeal the ruling.
Shyma was arrested on November 18 after complaints about the video for her song, I Have Issues. In the video, she appears in a classroom mimicking sex acts.
“Singer Shyma presents a lesson in depravity to youths,” the
Youm 7 newspaper reported after the video was released.
Shyma apologised on Facebook for the video and said she had not anticipated the backlash.
“I didn’t imagine all this would happen and that I would be subjected to such a strong attack from everyone, as a young singer who has dreamt from a young age of being a singer,” she wrote.
The authorities under president Abdel Fattah El Sisi have cracked down on some artists in Egypt using wide-ranging morality laws.
In 2015, a court sentenced a female dancer to a year in prison for inciting debauchery in a raunchy music video for a song called Let Go of my Hand.
Shyma was arrested in November after complaints about the video for her song, ‘I Have Issues’