A court in Cairo has sentenced a little-known Egyptian pop singer to two years in prison for “inciting debauchery” over a racy music video that featured her in her underwear and suggestively eating a banana.
Shyma, a 21-year-old singer Shyma whose real name is Shaimaa Ahmed,, was also fined 10,000 pounds ($560).
The director of the clip, Mohamed Gamal, received the same sentence but in absentia. Both can appeal the ruling.
Shyma was arrested on November 18, police said, following complaints about the video for her song “I Have Issues”.
In the video, she appears in a mock classroom licking an apple and appearing to mimic fellatio on a banana in front of a chalkboard scrawled with “Class #69”.
She denied the accusations, saying the director included the controversial scenes without her consent.
“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 cracked down on some artists in Egypt using wide-ranging morality laws.
Tens of young Egyptians were arrested in September for attending a concert in Cairo where a rainbow flag was raised. They were also accused of debauchery, harming public morality and other accusations.
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”.
