Cairo: An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced two male singers to two years in prison each on charges of public indecency in a music video deemed to contain sexual insinuations, the latest in a string of such cases in the conservative country.
The Misdemeanour Court in the suburban Cairo district of Monshaat Nasser handed down the sentence to little-known singers Ahmad Nafae and Mahmoud Juma over their online video “Give it a Push”, a pun on an Egyptian vulgarity.
Both defendants denied charges that lyrics of their song were sexually explicit.
The court ordered both entertainers to pay a bail of 5,000 Egyptian pounds (Dh1,041) each to stay out of prison pending appeal.
Their trial opened on December 20 after their song triggered an outcry on social media for allegedly containing sexual innuendos.
Trendy music
The video features a group of young men and girls dancing to the beat of mahrajnat, a trendy folksy music, which is popular with teens in Egypt.
In recent years, Egyptian authorities have cracked down on raunchy performers after legal complaints they violated public morals. The entertainers were convicted of inciting debauchery and given varying jail terms.
This month, an Egyptian court sentenced a female singer to one year in prison on appeal on charges of inciting debauchery in an online music video, cutting an earlier two-year jail term.
Pop singer Shyma is seen in a music video dancing in underwear, while seductively eating a banana and an apple as well as scribbling suggestive words on the blackboard.
Experts attribute the emergence of such videos, which are not authorised by authorities, to their performers’ yearning for quick fame.
Conservative Egyptians have often blamed “lewd” online material for encouraging sexual harassment, which is a big problem in the country.
