Egypt arrests producer of ‘scandalous’ videoclip

Egyptian Public Prosecution has ordered the arrest of the producer Mohamed Jamal, who created a “scandalous” videoclip, and ordered the detention of female signer Shaima Ahmed for four days pending investigations, local media reported yesterday.

Jamal and Shaima, the singer who performed the “scandalous” raunchy scenes in the clip, were accused of inciting “debauchery” and distributing audio and visual material without a licence.

The production company whose name appears on the clip denied knowledge of it and said the logo was used without its consent, while the artist who wrote the lyrics for the song also claimed no knowledge of the production.

During the investigation, Shaima accused the producer of making the clip “scandalous to this degree”, noting that she did not know this would be the outcome and stressed that she did only what the producer wanted.

However, she recognised that the producer pledged to make her a celebrity.

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She also told the investigator that she did not know that this clip would cause “this shakeup”. While weeping, she said that she performed the “scandalous” scene in “good faith”.

The singer said that she studied in Al-Azhar and keeps the Holy Qura’an close to her heart but she wanted fame.