The director of the music video, Mohamed Gamal, was also sentenced the same. A Cairo misdemeanor court also ordered Shaymaa Ahmed to pay a fine of EGP 10,000 (approximately $560). In the video, the singer engaged in sexually suggestive behavior eating banana. The backdrop is a chalkboard with gender symbols and “Class #69” written on it. Ahmed declared she didn’t mean for people to take it “in an inappropriate way.”
Pop singer Shaymaa Ahmed in the music videoclip
She also denied the accusations, saying the director included the controversial scenes without her consent. The verdict can be appealed at a higher court. Dozens of young Egyptians were arrested in September for attending a concert in Cairo where a rainbow flag was raised. Another singer in the conservative country is now on trial for “spreading provocative publicity” after saying that drinking from the Nile River could make a person sick. Her claim that Nile’s water could infect people with a parasite-driven disease got her banned by the Egyptian Musicians Syndicate from performing in the country for two months.Last year, three women in Egypt were jailed for six months each for dancing in music videos. Pole dancing is often stigmatized in mainstream Egyptian society.
