{"id":1038,"date":"2017-11-16T23:12:19","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T23:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/?p=1038"},"modified":"2017-11-16T23:12:19","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T23:12:19","slug":"a-famous-egyptian-singer-cracked-a-joke-about-the-nile-river-shes-facing-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/2017\/11\/16\/a-famous-egyptian-singer-cracked-a-joke-about-the-nile-river-shes-facing-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"A famous Egyptian singer cracked a joke about the Nile River. She\u2019s facing trial."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Egyptian singer Sherine Abdel-Wahab is pictured in 2009\u00a0at a performance in Tunisia. (AFP\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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For centuries, the Nile River has been revered as a source of great pride for Egypt. It is\u00a0essential\u00a0to the country\u2019s agriculture, tourism\u00a0and drinking water \u2014 a lifeblood to its people.<\/p>\n

So apparently, at least in the eyes of the Egyptian government, the river, more than 4,000 miles long, is not to be taken lightly. Joking publicly about it could even land you in court.<\/p>\n

A famous Egyptian singer, Sherine\u00a0Abdel-Wahab, is facing charges for incitement and \u201charming the public interest\u201d after she was captured on video cracking\u00a0a joke about the Nile River during one of her concerts, the Associated Press<\/a> and Egyptian news outlets <\/a>reported.<\/p>\n

While the singer was onstage, a fan asked her to sing one of her hit songs,\u00a0which translates to, \u201cHave you ever drunk from the Nile?\u201d<\/p>\n

The singer responded by saying\u00a0no, drinking from the Nile\u00a0can cause\u00a0schistosomiasis, a water-borne infection caused by parasitic worms and commonly known as bilharzia.\u00a0After decades of trying to fight the parasite, the Egyptian government last year launched<\/a> a multimillion dollar project aimed at eradicating it once and for all.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrink Evian, it\u2019s better,\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n

A video of the exchange, which Abdel-Wahab says took place in the United Arab Emirates more than a year ago, went viral on Egyptian social media networks Tuesday. And on Wednesday, judicial officials said the singer will be forced to stand trial in December for her comments.<\/p>\n

A lawyer, Hany Gad, filed a lawsuit against Abdel-Wahab in a misdemeanor court, saying her sarcastic comment was an insult to the Egyptian government. The lawyer cited a section of Egypt\u2019s penal code that says\u00a0those who broadcast sensational propaganda disturb public security and harm the public interest, Egyptian news outlets<\/a>reported.<\/a><\/p>\n

Gad accused the singer of mocking the government\u00a0at a time when it is attempting to revive\u00a0Egypt\u2019s tourism industry.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Egyptian Musicians Syndicate has also announced\u00a0it is prohibiting Abdel-Wahab from performing in the country, due to her\u00a0\u201cunjustified mockery of our dear Egypt,\u201d the Egypt Independent<\/a> reported. The agency is also telling TV and radio employees nationwide not\u00a0to broadcast songs by the chart-topping artist, who appeared as a judge on the Arabic version of \u201cThe Voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abdel-Wahab responded to the controversy with a lengthy apology on Facebook<\/a>, calling the remarks \u201ca foolish joke.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she watched the video, she said, \u201cI watched it as if this was happening in front of me for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t remember saying that, because of course I don\u2019t mean it \u2014 this is not what I mean to say about my country,\u201d she wrote.\u00a0\u201cGod knows how much I love this country and am dedicated to it \u2026 I promise to be more wary in the future of any naive mistakes that could put me in such a regretful position.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy beloved Egypt and its children: I apologize from all my heart for any pain I may have caused you,\u201d she added. \u201cIt was a bad joke that I would never use if I go back in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Egyptian Musicians Syndicate holds far-reaching legal powers\u00a0in the country, as Ayman Helmy explained in\u00a0Mada Masr<\/a>.\u00a0Board members have the right to issue warrants for crimes related to its \u201cartistic syndicates law,\u201d conduct searches and arrests, accept complaints from civilians and send information directly to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn reality, the syndicate can ban singers from singing for any reason considered valid by the syndicate head,\u201d Helmy wrote. In the past, the syndicate has banned performers for insulting musicians, dancing provocatively and wearing revealing costumes. Last year it tried to shut down a metal concert in Cairo, accusing the musicians of being \u201cdevil worshipers<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Morning Mix newsletter<\/p>\n

Stories that will be the talk of the morning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The government has also launched a crackdown on criticism of the government, sending thousands to jail, as the AP pointed out.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a particularly bad time to tell a joke about the Nile River. An upstream dam currently under construction in Ethiopia\u00a0has left the Egyptian government worried about its future<\/a>\u00a0water supply.<\/p>\n<\/article>\n

URL:\u00a0https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/morning-mix\/wp\/2017\/11\/16\/a-famous-egyptian-singer-cracked-a-joke-about-the-nile-river-for-that-shes-facing-trial\/?utm_term=.541348f3588f<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Egyptian singer Sherine Abdel-Wahab is pictured in 2009\u00a0at a performance in Tunisia. (AFP\/Getty Images) For centuries, the Nile River has been revered as a source of great pride for Egypt. It is\u00a0essential\u00a0to the country\u2019s agriculture, tourism\u00a0and drinking water \u2014 a lifeblood to its people. So apparently, at least in the eyes of the Egyptian government, the river, more than 4,000… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1038"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1039,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1038\/revisions\/1039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}