Image copyright Shyma Image caption Shyma wrote that she had not anticipated the backlash against her video 
 
 A court in Egypt has reportedly jailed for two years a singer who appeared in a music video in her underwear while suggestively eating a banana. 
 
 Shaimaa Ahmed, a 25-year-old known professionally as Shyma, was arrested last month after the video sparked outrage in the conservative country. 
 
 On Tuesday, she was found guilty of inciting debauchery and publishing an indecent film, local media said. 
 
 The video's director was also sentenced to two years in prison in absentia. 
 
 Shyma had apologised before her arrest to people who took the video for the song, I Have Issues, "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," she wrote on her now-deleted Facebook page. 
 
 Last year, Egyptian courts sentenced three female dancers to six months each in prison after convicting them of inciting debauchery in music videos. 
 
 Another singer is meanwhile facing trial for "spreading provocative publicity" because she suggested that drinking from the River Nile could make someone ill. 
 
 A lawsuit was filed last month after video emerged showing Sherine Abdel Wahab being asked at a concert last year to sing Mashrebtesh Men Nilha (Have You Drunk From The Nile?). 
 
 She responded by saying "drinking from the Nile will get me schistosomiasis" - a disease caused by a parasitic worm that is commonly known as bilharzia. 
 
 On Monday, the Egyptian Musicians Syndicate announced that it had decided to ban Abdel Wahab from performing concerts in the country for two months. ||||| An Egyptian court has reportedly jailed Shaimaa Ahmed, a singer who was arrested last month for a provocative music video, for two years. 
 
 Ahmed, 25, who goes by the name Shyma professionally, was found guilty of inciting debauchery and publishing an indecent film, the BBC reported. Her music video featured the singer suggestively eating a banana. 
 
 The director of the music video for Ahmed's song, "I Have Issues," was also sentenced to two years in prison. 
 
 "I didn't imagine all this would happen and that I would be subjected to such a strong attack from everyone," Ahmed wrote on her since-deleted Facebook page. She said she didn't mean for people to take it "in an inappropriate way." 
 
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 Ahmed, 25, who goes by Shyma professionally, was found guilty of inciting debauchery and publishing an indecent film. (Shyma via Youtube) 
 
 Egypt has a history of imprisoning women for "inciting debauchery." Last year, three women were jailed for six months each for dancing in music videos. 
 
 And another singer is on trial for "spreading provocative publicity" after saying that drinking from the Nile River could make a person sick. 
 
 "Drinking from the Nile will get me schistosomiasis," the singer, Sherine Abdel Wahab, said on video after a concertgoer asked her to sing "Mashrebtesh Men Nilha" (Have You Drunk from the Nile?). 
 
 Her claim that the famous body of water could infect people with a parasite-driven disease got her banned by the Egyptian Musicians Syndicate from performing in the country for two months. 
 
 Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Sherine is one of Egypt's most famous singers 
 
 Egyptian singer Sherine Abdel Wahab has been sentenced to six months in prison for joking about the cleanliness of the River Nile. 
 
 Sherine, one of the country's most famous singers - and a judge on the Arabic version of The Voice TV show - told a fan that drinking from the famous river might give them parasites. 
 
 "Drink Evian instead," she joked. 
 
 Another singer, Laila Amer, was also sentenced on Tuesday to two years in prison over a music video. 
 
 Ms Amer - who is not as well known as Sherine - was found guilty of "inciting debauchery and immorality". The director and another actor were sentenced to shorter terms. 
 
 Sherine, meanwhile, has been convicted by a Cairo court of spreading false news. Egyptian news outlet Ahram said she was ordered to pay 5,000 Egyptian pounds (£204) as bail, in addition to a fine of 10,000 pounds and remains free until her case is concluded. 
 
 Both cases remain open to appeal. 
 
 A 'foolish joke' 
 
 The lawsuit against Sherine was filed in November, after a video emerged online showing her being asked to sing Mashrebtesh Men Nilha (Have You Drunk From The Nile?) 
 
 She responded by saying "drinking from the Nile will get me schistosomiasis" - a disease commonly known in Egypt as bilharzia, which once plagued rural water sources. 
 
 On top of the legal case against her, the Egyptian Musicians Syndicate announced that it had banned her from performing over her "unjustified mockery of our dear Egypt". 
 
 Abdel Wahab later apologised for her "foolish joke" at the concert, which she said took place in the United Arab Emirates more than a year ago. 
 
 "My beloved country Egypt and sons of my country Egypt, I apologise to you with all my heart for any pain I may have caused you," she added. 
 
 Schistosomiasis was widespread throughout much of Egypt's history, having been discovered in mummified remains from thousands of years in the past. Health programmes in the last century, however, have greatly reduced its prevalence. 
 
 It is caused by a parasitic worm that lives in fresh water in subtropical and tropical regions, growing inside the human body. 
 
 Attack on society 
 
 The controversy surrounding Sherin's case was followed by the arrest in January of Laila Amer, over a video for her song Bos Omak (Look At Your Mother) 
 
 Its name is an apparent pun on an Arabic profanity. 
 
 The video showed Amer dancing and making suggestive gestures - something the lawyer who filed the complaint called a "great risk" to Egypt and "an attack on society". 
 
 News agency EFE reported that Amer's defence in court was that she had simply followed instructions from the director and producer. 
 
 The director was sentenced to six months in prison, while another man appearing in the video alongside Amer received a three-month sentence. 
 
 Ahram reported that all three defendants in Amer's case deny any wrongdoing. 
 
 Image copyright Shyma Image caption Another singer, Shyma, wrote that she had not anticipated the backlash against her use of a banana in a music video 
 
 Tuesday's rulings bring to three the number of female artists handed prison sentences in recent months. 
 
 In December, Shaimaa Ahmed - known simply as Shyma - was jailed for two years after she appeared in a music video in her underwear while suggestively eating a banana. 
 
 She was found guilty of inciting debauchery and publishing an indecent film, and was sentenced alongside the video's director. 
 
 Before her imprisonment, she apologised to anyone who took the video for the song, I Have Issues, "in an inappropriate way". 
 
 Her sentence was reduced to one year on appeal. ||||| An Egyptian court has jailed a little-known singer for two years on Tuesday for inciting debauchery, judicial sources said, after she appeared in a music video in her underwear and suggestively eating a banana. 
 
 Shyma’s song, titled I Have Issues, sparked controversy on social media in the conservative country. 
 
 The singer, who was fined 10,000 Egyptian pounds (US$560), can appeal the verdict to a higher court. 
 
 The director of the video was also fined and sentenced to two years in prison, but in absentia. Both defendants were accused of inciting debauchery and producing a video harming public morality. 
 
 Shyma, whose real name is Shaimaa Ahmed, was arrested on November 18 before being referred to the prosecution for investigation. She denied the accusations, saying the director included the controversial scenes without her consent. 
 
 Dozens of young Egyptians were arrested in September for attending a concert in Cairo where a rainbow flag was raised. They were also accused of debauchery, harming public morality and other accusations.
– If Shyma's music video had aired on MTV in the US, she likely wouldn't be facing jail time. But the 20-something singer, whose star turn showed her stripped down to her skivvies and provocatively eating fruit, lives in Egypt, and the conservative powers-that-be there have sentenced her to prison, the BBC reports. Shyma (real name: Shaimaa Ahmed) was arrested in November, and on Tuesday she was handed a two-year sentence on charges of debauchery and publishing an indecent film, per local media. The New York Daily News says Mohamed Gamal, the director of the video, called "I Have Issues," was also sentenced to two years in prison in absentia. The Telegraph offers more details, explaining that in the video, Shyma appears in her underwear, then noshes on a milk-drizzled banana, licks an apple, and samples cake icing in front of a classroom of beguiled men. The video got her more than 1 million followers, but then came her arrest. The debauchery charge isn't an uncommon one in Egypt, with media reports citing instances of women being thrown behind bars for dancing in music videos (that recently earned belly dancers six months each in prison) and, in the case of a singer who proclaimed on film that sipping Nile River water could get people sick, "spreading provocative publicity." As for Shyma, she noted before her arrest in a Facebook post that's since disappeared that she was sorry for her "inappropriate" behavior and "didn't imagine ... that I would be subjected to such a strong attack from everyone." The South China Morning Post, which says Shyma can appeal the verdict, notes that after her arrest, she blamed Gamal for including the provocative scenes without her consent. (Eight Egyptians were jailed for filming a gay wedding.)