CAIRO: Egyptian Christians are continuing their campaign against award winning author Yousef Zeidan over his Arabic Booker prize-winning novel Azazeel. Some Christian lawyers have demanded that the government imprison Zeidan for five-years, arguing that he “defamed the Christian religion.” Despite the assault on freedom of expression, there are a handful of Christians speaking out against what they call “misled” sentiments. “Sure, there is something to be said about the statements and things in the book, but at the end of the day it is a book, a good one at that, and if they don't want to read it then they don't have to,” said Hani Fahmy, a 32-year-old pharmacist in Cairo who has said much of the conversation in recent weeks has been surrounding the novel. “I just find it hypocritical that they can say these things and at the same time there are Coptic leaders who say Muslims are the problem. We need some tolerance.” The lawyers have referred to Article 98 of the Egyptian Penal Code as justification for their demands of imprisoning the author. According to news reports, the lawyers and Coptic organizations abroad, issued a statement against the writer, where they “demanded the prosecutor general try Zeidan for contempt of the Christian religion and verbal abuse of Copts.” The move to attempt to silence Zeidan has left human rights groups and media advocates frustrated, but the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said the communiqué submitted earlier this month against Zeidan is “no surprise.” They said the outrage from the Coptic groups “is expected … in view of the attack launched by many radical Christians against the novel and its author since its publication and the success in achieved.” “Azazeel” is one of the few historical novels to be greeted with widespread popularity and literary success. Zeidan, many fellow Arab authors noted, has weaved a tale that is “mindfully historic and modern.” The attacks, however, are over the use of Christianity, which a number of Christians, including the anti-Zeidan group have said is “blasphemous.” ANHRI, the pan-Arabic press freedom organization said that the “infuriating irony is that the complaints allegedly consider themselves human rights defenders, while they are publicity seekers” instead. “They have previously demanded banning the movie “I love cinema.” The rights group reported that Zeidan has even been accused of being a racist. Many Coptic organizations advocate the idea that Egypt's Coptic Christian population is not Arab and lives under a Muslim-Arab occupation. Most Christians living in Egypt discount this idea as “crazy.” “How do they expect people to come together when all this crazy talk is going around? They should be ashamed of themselves,” added Fahmy. G a m a l E i d , ANHRI's Executive Director said that “we are warning of religious and Hisba cases,” referring to how religion can be used for political purposes if an individual can prove, in court, blasphemous statements by someone else. The result can be imprisonment and many have argued the Hisba case has been abused in recent years. Gamel al-Banna, a leading liberal Islamic scholar, said the Hisba was an idea “to democratize and have debate within Islam and religions, but today is being used to fight against anyone who doesn't fall into the ‘norm'.” Eid added that “Pope Shenoud III has to take a clear position from those fawning to him, claiming they have filed those communiqués as lawyers of the Egyptian church. We would really wish that the church would rise above pursuing a creative writer due to such allegations promoted by extremists seeking publicity at the expense of freedom of creation.” For now, at least, Zeidan has yet to see the inside of a courtroom and most hope the issue will simply wash over and be forgotten. BM
