As free speech has shrivelled in Egypt, its often zealous courts have jailed democracy activists, shuttered charities and pursued gay people who waved rainbow flags at concerts. Now the courts have a new target: a leading pop diva.
The singer, Sherine Abdel-Wahab, was referred to trial on Wednesday after a video clip of a concert circulated that showed her warning fans, obviously tongue-in-cheek, that drinking water from the Nile could make them sick. “You are better off drinking Evian,” she said, referring to the brand of French mineral water.
Sherine, as she is known to fans across the Arab world, touched a raw nerve with Egyptian nationalists after a fan asked her to sing the tune Have You Drunk From the Nile during a concert. “You’d probably get bilharzia,” she quipped, referring to a waterborne disease, also known as schistosomiasis, that is spread by parasitic worms and that the Egyptian government has struggled to eradicate.
As outrage spread on social media, Abdel-Wahab (37) issued an abject apology on Facebook for what she termed a “misplaced and badly worded” joke. But it was too late. The pro-government musicians’ union said it was banning the singer from performing in Egypt, and prosecutors summoned her to court on December 23rd to face an array of charges, including incitement and harming the public interest.
Abdel-Wahab, who has sold millions of albums in Egypt, is a judge on the Arab version of the TV talent show The Voice, and is not usually a critic of the government. But the Nile has become a politically sensitive issue in recent years over fears that a giant upriver dam, nearing completion in Ethiopia, will cut Egypt's share of the river waters.
Strident nationalism
The case was the latest example of how Egypt’s courts have been used for displays of strident nationalism since President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi came to power in 2013, often in cases involving innocuous or lighthearted forms of entertainment.
An Armenian belly dancer was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment in 2015 for dancing in a costume fashioned after the Egyptian flag. The verdict was overturned on appeal. In 2016, comedy pranksters were accused of “insulting state institutions” for distributing balloons made from inflated condoms to policemen in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
An actor, Amir Karara, is currently under investigation for "insulting lawyers" for his portrayal of one in the television drama series Handcuffs.
In her apology, Abdel-Wahab said the video in question was made more than a year ago at a concert in the United Arab Emirates. "God knows the extent of my love and loyalty for Egypt," she said. The patriotic outburst didn't impress the musicians' union, however, which accused the singer of "unjustified mockery of our dear Egypt".
The musicians union has a growing reputation as Egypt's enforcer of public morals. In September it denounced Mashrou' Leila, a popular Lebanese band whose lead singer is openly gay, after audience members waved rainbow-coloured flags at a concert in Cairo. Pictures of the flags spread on social media, triggering dozens of arrests, according to rights activists.
The musicians’ union drew sharp criticism in 2016 for its effort to stop a heavy metal concert in Cairo that it claimed had been organised by “devil worshippers”. – New York Times