Egyptian pop singer and director jailed for video that 'incited debauchery' | AibryitAur

An Egyptian pop singer has been
sentenced to two years in prison for
"inciting debauchery" in a racy music
video clip.
Shyma, a little-known 21-year-old
singer, was also fined 10,000 pounds
($560) by a Cairo court.
The director of the clip, Mohamed
Gamal, received the same sentence.
Both can appeal against the ruling.
Shyma was arrested on 18 November,
police said, following complaints about
the video for her song I Have Issues.
In the video, she appears singing in her
underwear and suggestively eating an
apple and a banana before a classroom
of young men.
The video created a stir on social media
in conservative Egypt and was discussed
on TV talkshows.
"Singer Shyma
presents a lesson in
depravity to
youths," said the
Youm 7 newspaper
in an article after
the video was
released.
In a Facebook post at the time, Shyma
apologised 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 al-Sisi have used wide-angle
morality laws to crack down on a range
of artists.
In 2015, a court jailed 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".
She should have learnt from that. This is a wake up call to Nigerian
government who only bans video but do not prosecute songs and music
video contents that violates the laws of the land.