AN EGYPTIAN pop star has been banged up for two years over a “sexually explicit” music video showing her eating a banana.
Singer Shyma was sentenced yesterday by a court in Cairo for “inciting debauchery” with the racy clip, a judicial source said.
Shyma was arrested on November 18 after complaints about the video for her song “I Have Issues”, cops said.
In the video, she appears in a mock classroom licking an apple and suggestively eating a banana in front of a chalkboard scrawled with “Class #69”.
Youm 7 newspaper covered the controversial video’s release, writing: “Singer Shyma presents a lesson in depravity to youths.”
In a Facebook post at the time, Shyma apologised for the video and said she had not anticipated the backlash.
She wrote: “I didn’t imagine all this would happen and that I would be subjected to such a strong attack from everyone.”
Shyma also claimed the director of the video – who was sentenced to two years in prison as well, in absentia – included the controversial scenes without her consent.
But it was not enough to save her and she was convicted of inciting debauchery and producing a video harming public morality.
In addition to their jail sentences, Shyma and director Mohamed Gamal were also fined 10,000 pounds (£420) each.
Both can appeal the ruling.
The authorities under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have cracked down on some artists in Egypt using wide-ranging morality laws.
In 2015, a court jailed a female dancer for a year for “inciting debauchery” in a raunchy music video for a song called “Let Go of My Hand”.
And 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 similar charges.
