An Egyptian pop star has been released after four days in jail and may face further questioning over a music video in which she wore only underwear eats a banana in a suggestive manner.
Shaimaa Ahmed, known professionally as Shyma, released the racy video for her song ‘I Have Issues’ last week. It was immediately met with complaints.
In the video, Ms Ahmed dances in her underwear and uses fruit to seduce a classroom full of men in which ‘Class 69’ is written on a chalkboard.
“The content of the video clip is harmful to the Egyptian society,” MP Jalal Awara said.
“There must be a firm stance against promoters of this substandard art.”
“Singer Shyma presents a lesson in depravity to youths,” one newspaper editorial said.
On Saturday she was arrested at her home in Cairo on suspicion of “inciting debauchery” and “corrupting public morals”, Egyptian media reported.
It is still not clear whether she faces formal charges. If convicted, Ms Ahmed could face up to three years in prison.
She is currently banned from performing.
In a post on her since-deleted Facebook page, Ms Ahmed apologised to “all the people who saw the clip and were upset by it and took it in an inappropriate way.”
“I didn’t imagine all this would happen and that I would be subjected to such a strong attack from everyone, as a young singer… who has dreamed from a young age of being a singer,” she added.
Ms Ahmed reportedly blamed the video’s director, Mohammed Gamal, for its controversial content. He too has since been arrested.
For Shyma’s fans, the pop star’s arrest is a symbol of women’s oppression in a country that was voted the worst in the Arab world for women in 2013.
Egypt is a socially conservative and deeply religious country where women are urged by politicians not to talk loudly or laugh in public to avoid harassment by men.
Levels of female genital mutilation, honour killings, domestic violence, sexual harassment and child marriage remain high.
In 2016 a court sentenced three female dancers to six months each in prison after being convicted of inciting debauchery in music videos.
