Jokes about the Nile are as old as the river itself, but one Egyptian pop singer has been told she will stand trial after joking about disease in the famous waterway.

Sherine Abdel Wahab was on stage in the United Arab Emirates when a fan requested that she sing her track Have You Drunk From the Nile? – a patriotic hit connecting love of the notorious river with love of the Egyptian nation. The singer replied: “No, you’d get Schistosomiasis! Drink Evian, it’s better.”

Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia, is a parasitic disease endemic to Egypt caused by water contaminated with infected freshwater snails, and has even been found in mummies dating back 5,000 years. The Egyptian government began a $10m campaign to eradicate the disease in 2016.

The lighthearted comment sparked a backlash after a video of the performance went viral, leading angry fans to create the hashtag #IWillDrinkFromtheNileandWon’tListentoSherine.

Abdel Wahab, known as the “queen of emotions,” is facing two lawsuits over her comments. Lawyer Hani Gad accused Sherine of “insulting the Egyptian state” in a lawsuit filed to Cairo’s misdemeanours court, alleging that her comments mocked Egypt at a time when the government is working to attract tourists.

On Wednesday, judicial officials announced she was due to stand trial on 23 December charged with breaching an article in Egypt’s penal code, which bans deliberately broadcasting information or “false or tenacious rumours” seen as liable to “disturb public security, spread horror among the people or cause harm and damage to the public interest”.

Lawyer Samir Sabry also told nightly television host Ahmed Moussa on Tuesday that he had brought a separate case against the singer, accusing her of “hurting the national economy, terrorising tourists and harming tourism”. Sabry is known for his prosecutions of private citizens for breaching indecency laws.

The lawsuits and public outcry led Egypt’s Radio and Television Union to place a blanket ban on playing any songs by the 37-year-old singer, considered one of the most popular in the Middle East. Abdel Wahab last year staged a feted comeback after a previous decision to retire, much to the delight of fans. She has also been a judge on the regional version of reality talent show The Voice.

Abdel Wahab posted a comment to her Facebook page on Tuesday night, apologising profusely to her fans and labelling the comment “a silly joke”. She added that she made the comment at a concert in the UAE city of Sharjah more than a year ago.

“When I saw [the video], I watched it as if this was happening in front of me for the first time,” she said. “I don’t remember saying that, because of course I don’t mean it – this is not what I mean to say about my country.”



The Egyptian Musicians Syndicate has since banned the singer from performing in the country while she is under investigation for her comments, stating that they created “unjustified ridicule towards our dear Egypt”.

The syndicate wields enormous power over Egyptian popular culture, and has previously tried to shut down metal concerts, accusing performers of being “devil worshippers”. It has also banned female performers from wearing “revealing outfits” on stage and recently banned the Lebanese pop group Mashrou Leila from performing after fans waved rainbow flags during a concert.