Singer Sherine faces new charges of 'mocking Egypt'

Singer Sherine faces new charges of 'mocking Egypt'
Another scandal has hit singer Sherine after she reportedly insulting Egypt.
2 min read
09 January, 2019
Sherine has got into hot water again in Egypt [Getty]


Arab pop singer Sherine Abdel-Wahab has run into trouble again in Egypt, after allegedly insulting her home country during a concert.

Sherine, as she's better know, reportedly murmured "I am such a waste on Egypt", after a technical problem led to her microphone being cut off.

Her husband, Hossam Habib, insists she was criticising the technical malfunction and not Egypt, according to Egyptian Streets.

Notorious Egyptian lawyer, Samir Sabry, did not see the funny side of the joke, making a complaint to the general prosecutor saying Sherine has insulted Egypt with the comment.

Sabry said she made the comment "thinking she was funny - however, if she only knew that she is the silliest… of vicious characters, she wouldn't have insulted the great Egypt", he told pro-government al-Ahram newspaper.

The lawyer is infamous for filing lawsuits against celebrities he feels have insulted Egypt or acted debaucherously.

Sabry reportedly said that Sherine had "not learned her lesson" from last time she ran into legal trouble for allegedly "insulting" Egypt, when she was given a six month jail sentence for remarking on diseases in the Nile River.

During a concert in the UAE in 2017, a fan requested she sing "Have you Drunk From the Nile?"

She replied: "No, you'd get Schistosomiasis. Drink Evian instead."

The joke referred to a disease caused by a parasitic tapeworm once common in the Nile. 

The comment sparked angered some nationalists in the country, with the Nile sometimes evoked in patriotic writing and songs.

Sherine apologised for the comment and insisted it was just a "silly joke", but the government-aligned Musicians Syndicate banned the singer from performing in Egypt.

She was sentenced to six months in jail last year, but is yet to serve the sentence.

The Egyptian regime, meanwhile, has launched a massive crackdown on opponents of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi or who are deemed to have insulted the country or government.

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