CAIRO: A new Hisba case has appeared in the Egyptian political arena this week after a number of lawyers calling themselves the Association of Lawyers Without Restrictions filed a complaint and submitted a copy to the Attorney General calling for the confiscation of the book “A Thousand and One Nights”. They are calling for the imprisonment of the publishers of the book from the General Authority of the Culture, claiming that the book “offends public decency.” Hisba cases allow citizens to prosecute individuals who they deem to have insulted Islam, and, although fairly new to Egypt, they have been increasingly used against public figures. This time, the Lawyers in their complaint submitted last Wednesday, called for interrogating Ahmed Mugahid, Chairman of the Cultural Authority, the prominent writer Gamal al-Ghitani, Gamal al-Askari, Saad Abdelrahman, Suzan Abdelrahman, “as being responsible for the publication of the series issued by the authority. They are demanding those responsible for the publication be brought to trial under Article 178 of the Penal Code, which if convicted is punishable by imprisonment for a term of two years and a fine for everyone that publishes any prints or pictures that “offends the public decency.” The lawyers consider that the book to be “evidence against those writers and publishers.” The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) issued a press statement on Thursday, saying the complaint filed is “as an attack on the freedom of expression and creativity and a continuation of the phenomenon of a long list of issues of political and religious Hisba, which has become an easy way for those who seek fame, and the tightening of restrictions on writers, journalists and artists. “As a result, the deliberate inaction of the Egyptian government to curb this kind of issue that threatens the freedom of opinion and expression and creativity in Egypt, is due to the government attempts to take advantage of such hisba lawsuits to prosecute writers and journalists critical of its policies.” Gamal Eid, Director of ANHRI criticized the silence of the Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni over the matter, “for this sort of issue, as what happened to Abda Magazine issued by the ministry of culture, when it was subjected to confiscation last April.” He was referring to the ministry's culture magazine that was met with fierce criticism and calls for its removal from public until a court verdict permitted its publication again. Eid pointed out that the Minister's “non-defense” of the magazine is an “encouragement to those who resort to Hisba cases.” For his part, Hosni said the book is “human heritage, not written by a particular person,” explaining that it must be presented to public as it is, “without deleting any part of it.” The minister said that “human heritage should not be dealt with in an instinctive way.” He added that “dealing with human heritage in this way means that we should break down the Ancient Egyptian monuments, where there are statues and inscriptions of the god of fertility,” expressing surprise at the way some people are dealing with the cultural heritage in this manner. The most recent high-profile hisba case was brought against secularist author Sayyed al-Qimni, after he won last year’s prestigious State Award of Merit in Social Sciences, prompting a backlash from many Islamists. Nabih al-Wahsh, a lawyer famous for bringing hisba cases against prominent public figures, which in the past have included writer Nawal al-Saadawi and composer Hassan Abu al-Saoud, along with a host of actresses, promptly filed a lawsuit demanding the withdrawal of the award on the grounds that al-Qemny is “derisive of Islam.” ANHRI, in October last year, announced a campaign supported by the pan-Arabic rights organization and other human rights groups against so-called hisba cases in Egypt. The campaign also supports Hassan Hanafi, another winner of the State Award of Merit. Hanafi, a renowned scholar and professor of philosophy at Cairo University, landed himself in hot water with comments he made at Alexandria’s library, when he said that, like a local supermarket, “you can find whatever you want in the Qur’an” – Islam’s holy book. The new campaign against the hisba system is firmly rooted in the belief that the system stifles academic debate and creativity and that hisba cases are, by definition, anti-freedom of speech and anti-freedom of expression. The statement calls for open debate, rather than lawsuits, to criticize intellectuals’ views: “An opinion should never drag anyone to court. It is not discrediting to any thinker to criticize their thoughts, but it is unacceptable to file lawsuits and hisba cases to limit and terrorize freedom of creativity and research.†BM
