Egyptian singer to face trial over Nile comments

[DJKeefy]

Egyptian singer Sherine Abdel Wahab to face trial over Nile comments.

Jokes about the Nile are as old as the river itself, but one Egyptian pop singer has been told she will stand trial after joking about disease in the famous waterway.

Sherine Abdel Wahab was on stage in the United Arab Emirates when a fan requested that she sing her track Have You Drunk From the Nile? – a patriotic hit connecting love of the notorious river with love of the Egyptian nation. The singer replied: “No, you’d get Schistosomiasis! Drink Evian, it’s better.”

Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia, is a parasitic disease endemic to Egypt caused by water contaminated with infected freshwater snails, and has even been found in mummies dating back 5,000 years. The Egyptian government began a $10m campaign to eradicate the disease in 2016.

The lighthearted comment sparked a backlash after a video of the performance went viral, leading angry fans to create the hashtag #IWillDrinkFromtheNileandWon’tListentoSherine.

Abdel Wahab, known as the “queen of emotions,” is facing two lawsuits over her comments. Lawyer Hani Gad accused Sherine of “insulting the Egyptian state” in a lawsuit filed to Cairo’s misdemeanours court, alleging that her comments mocked Egypt at a time when the government is working to attract tourists.

On Wednesday, judicial officials announced she was due to stand trial on 23 December charged with breaching an article in Egypt’s penal code, which bans deliberately broadcasting information or “false or tenacious rumours” seen as liable to “disturb public security, spread horror among the people or cause harm and damage to the public interest”.

Lawyer Samir Sabry also told nightly television host Ahmed Moussa on Tuesday that he had brought a separate case against the singer, accusing her of “hurting the national economy, terrorising tourists and harming tourism”. Sabry is known for his prosecutions of private citizens for breaching indecency laws.

The lawsuits and public outcry led Egypt’s Radio and Television Union to place a blanket ban on playing any songs by the 37-year-old singer, considered one of the most popular in the Middle East. Abdel Wahab last year staged a feted comeback after a previous decision to retire, much to the delight of fans. She has also been a judge on the regional version of reality talent show The Voice.

Abdel Wahab posted a comment to her Facebook page on Tuesday night, apologising profusely to her fans and labelling the comment “a silly joke”. She added that she made the comment at a concert in the UAE city of Sharjah more than a year ago.

“When I saw [the video], I watched it as if this was happening in front of me for the first time,” she said. “I don’t remember saying that, because of course I don’t mean it – this is not what I mean to say about my country.”
The Egyptian Musicians Syndicate has since banned the singer from performing in the country while she is under investigation for her comments, stating that they created “unjustified ridicule towards our dear Egypt”.

The syndicate wields enormous power over Egyptian popular culture, and has previously tried to shut down metal concerts, accusing performers of being “devil worshippers”. It has also banned female performers from wearing “revealing outfits” on stage and recently banned the Lebanese pop group Mashrou Leila from performing after fans waved rainbow flags during a concert.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... e-comments

[DJKeefy]

I drank from the Nile once (unintentionally) GOD was I sick

Another one to add to the silly list of things people are getting prosecuted for, I can not believe she is apologising for something that is a possibility.

"Although schistosomiasis is not transmitted by swallowing contaminated water, if your mouth or lips come in contact with water containing the parasites, you could become infected."

[HEPZIBAH]

Crazy! Why let patriotism get in the way of known scientific fact!

[newcastle]

The recent spate of "silly " prosecutions is a result of the Egyptian legal system whereby anyone can bring a case against anybody for anything....

It needs to be supervised much more rigorously or subject to penalties for anyone commencing frivolous actions. Better still....scrap it altogether.

I well remember going with two Egyptian friends for a sail on the Nile just north of Cairo. It was a very hot day and both decided to take a plunge off the prow. They were only in the water for a few minutes.

Both were violently sick within an hour or so. One of them had to visit a doctor in the evening and was quite unwell for several days.

[Who2]

I used to swim in the Nile daily never once got sick....
Ps: Mind you North of Cairo, imagine all our effluent flowing North, Now that's a lot of crap!

[carrie]

Swam in the Nile at Aswan and it was wonderful.

[Winged Isis]

Newcastle, that was more likely pollution (sewage outfall?). Bilharzia takes time to manifest through excreta. Many individuals do not experience symptoms. If symptoms do appear, they usually take from four to six weeks from the time of infection. Bilharzia is found in slow-moving and still water, especially dams, river sides and lakes.

[newcastle]

Newcastle, that was more likely pollution (sewage outfall?). Bilharzia takes time to manifest through excreta. Many individuals do not experience symptoms. If symptoms do appear, they usually take from four to six weeks from the time of infection. Bilharzia is found in slow-moving and still water, especially dams, river sides and lakes.

Of course.

But a gob full of Nile water....particularly north of Cairo...well, you take your chances

[Major Thom]

Well there's a thing

[Adamantium]

Another female singer has been arrested for performing suggestive acts using a banana in one of her videos. I wonder how many times the prosecutors watched it before they decided to make a case against her. They probably streamed it to their phones. Purely for evidence of course.

[newcastle]

And here it is...in glorious technicolour

phpBB [video]

Pretty raunchy. The audience seemed appreciative! I wonder if BENNU has any videos of her own dance routines

Egyptian singer arrested for 'inciting debauchery' after eating a banana in music video
'I didn't imagine all this would happen and that I would be subjected to such a strong attack from everyone'

Local media called video 'a lesson in depravity to youths' YouTube / screengrab
A pop star has been arrested in Egypt on suspicion of inciting debauchery in a music video.

Shyma, who was shown dancing in her underwear and eating fruit in front of classroom of men and a blackboard with “Class #69” written on it, was detained after the video caused numerous complaints.

Local media criticised the video.

Egyptian newspaper Youm7 added: “Singer Shyma presents a lesson in depravity to youths.”

For Shyma’s supporters, the pop star’s arrest was a symbol of women’s oppression in a country that was voted the worst in the Arab world for women in 2013.

The 21-year-old has apologised for the video, adding she was unaware it would cause such a backlash.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 63921.html

Probably explains why I haven't seen Cadbury's Flake advertised on Egyptian TV

phpBB [video]

[Dusak]

These darn Egyptian bananas have a lot to answer for. I eat my chipsies like that.

[Adamantium]

It leaves little to the imagination. The Apple was even more suggestive. Inciting debauchery...? Given what a lot of Egyptian men boast to having on their phones this is tame in comparison. Egyptian men tend to require little incentive when for them the sight of a girl in tight jeans tends to incite this nation of hotblooded males. Those who have made a case against her obviously found it a turn on and feel it to be their duty to save others from feeling what is natural. Once again men fear the power women can have over them when they think with their groin.

Her getting jiggy with an Apple can be seen as symbolic of Eve tempting Adam with the forbidden fruit. When it comes to videos with female Egyptian pop stars the Apple and banana are now forbidden fruits.

If no publicity is bad then she will be happy this is probably Egypt's most watched video making her the most well known female singer.

Perhaps with having most of the men in hard helmets is symbolic. No detail has been overlooked including 69 in big letters on the blackboard. She was last seen standing in the naughty corner.

Rumour has it she and Shareen are forming a girl band. Inspired by this case they intend to call themselves Bananadrama.

[newcastle]

Rumour has it she and Shareen are forming a girl band. Inspired by this case they intend to call themselves Bananadrama.

Love it!!

[newcastle]

EGYPTIAN STREETS
DECEMBER 13, 2017

Little-known Egyptian singer Shaimaa Ahmed – or Shyma – has been sentenced to two years in prison and was fined EGP 10,000 after she had been charged with inciting debauchery for her music video clip that was viewed as “racy”.

https://egyptianstreets.com/2017/12/13/ ... -morality/

[Hafiz]

I think its true that Cairo is the only very large city that just s***ts its waste water and human wastage into the Nile and doesn't treat a single litre of it. And this is in a country that worships engineers/big infrastructure projects and endlessly wines about the Ethiopians/Sudanese 'stealing' its Nile Water. Its also a country that faces a water crisis. I hope I'm wrong.

Here is a stretch of an argument. No country on earth is so desperately reliant on water from a single source than Egypt. No country so pollutes its own single source of water as badly as does Egypt. Egypt does very little, possibly close to nothing, to improve the situation. There is no announced project to treat the Cairo or Alex waste water - or, maybe, other cities on the Nile. (I'm unsure on the waste water systems on the Upper and Central Egypt cities)

The big loosers in this are Egyptians who get sick and a much more expensive infrastructure (funded by Egyptians) to treat the bad water to make it suitable for human usage. Bad irrigation water must also create problems for agriculture including sick animals, contaminated agricultural produce and greater expense in pesticides and 'cleaning' food for market. The strong chemicals (I assume that they are neither modern nor state of the art) to treat the water for human consumption may also pose health risks for humans - and also for animals.

Meanwhile scores of billions are spent on high priority national projects - like Nuclear power, a New Administrative capital and a Suez Canal that fewer and fewer ships use.

[newcastle]

I think its true that Cairo is the only very large city that just s***ts its waste water and human wastage into the Nile and doesn't treat a single litre of it.

I don't think that's true.

Cairo has a number of waste water treatment plants.

[Hafiz]

Good - I'll check because what I posted was based on several things I'd read quite a while ago that said so.

Thanks - I should have double checked before I posted - I'll also check on Alex and the other Nile cities - it will take a while. Maybe quite a while - but I will do it and report back.

[Winged Isis]

The losers are the Egyptian people, indeed, and not just by getting sick, but also by more money being used to treat them that could be used elsewhere.

[Dusak]

We have treatement plants here in Luxor.