This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/15/egyptian-pop-singer-sherine-abdel-wahab-to-face-trial-over-nile-comments

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Egyptian singer Sherine Abdel Wahab to face trial over Nile comments Egyptian singer Sherine Abdel Wahab to face trial over Nile comments
(about 2 hours later)
The Egyptian pop singer Sherine Abdel Wahab has been referred to trial for suggesting at a concert that drinking from the Nile could lead to illness. 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.
The singer’s trial has been set for 23 December, officials said, on charges of “harming the public interest”. 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.”
The announcement came after the Musicians Syndicate in Egypt said it would bar her from performing in the country after she made the remark at a concert in the United Arab Emirates. 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.
Social media users had shared a video of a fan asking her to sing her tune Have You Drunk from the Nile. The lighthearted comment sparked a backlash after a video of the performance went viral, leading angry fans to create the hashtag #IWillDrinkFromtheNileandWon’tListentoSherine.
“You’d get bilharzia,” she said, referring to a water-borne parasite Egypt struggled for decades to combat. “Drink Evian, it’s better,” she joked. 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.
Her comments, the Musicians Syndicate said in a statement, constituted “unjustified ridicule toward our dear Egypt”. 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”.
The population of the vast country is mostly centred on the banks of the Nile, which flows from the south to the Mediterranean Sea. 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.
Later, Abdel Wahab posted a statement on Facebook apologising for the remark, saying the concert had taken place more than a year ago. 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.
“I don’t recall saying that because of course I don’t mean it, and it doesn’t reflect my personal feelings towards my nation ... I’m sorry,” she said. 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.
The charismatic singer topped the charts in the region before announcing her retirement last year, but has since gone back on her decision. “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”.
She was also a judge on the Arabic version of the popular TV talent show The Voice. 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.