Cairo: An Egyptian court on Tuesday granted an appeal by celebrated singer Sherine against a jail sentence and acquitted her of disparaging the River Nile, legal sources said.
The ruling was issued by the Moqattam Appeals Misdemeanour Court in Cairo, revoking the sentence earlier passed by a lower court, the sources added.
In February, a misdeameanourt court sentenced the 37-year-old diva to six months in prison on charges of defaming the country and spreading false news after she had suggested at a concert that drinking from the Nile could make people sick.
At the time, the court also ordered Sherine to pay 5,000 Egyptian pounds (Dh 1,043) in bail in order to stay out of prison pending an appeal against the sentence.
The case is related to remarks made by the singer. Last November, she sparked an outcry in Egypt after a video clip surfaced online showing her being asked by a fan at a concert outside Egypt to sing a hit song of hers praising the Nile, the country’s main source of water.
In response, the singer mockingly says: “Drinking from the Nile will get you Bilharzia. Better, you drink Evian!” – a brand of French bottled water.
The remarks prompted a lawyer to file a legal complaint against Sherine for allegedly insulting Egypt. She later apologised for what she called a “silly joke”.
However, state radio and television stations stopped broadcasting her songs.
The Egyptian musicians union, which licence entertainers in the country, banned Sherine from performing at concerts for two months.
