CAIRO: A new Facebook fan page has emerged in Egypt in solidarity with embattled blogger Aliaa Mahdy, who controversially posted a nude photo of herself online, sparking massive anger from both liberals and conservatives in the country. Pushed by Egyptians, Nude Revolutionary Photos, aims to promote the idea that Mahdy, and other women, have the right to push boundaries and express their desires for a more free society. “This page is created in support of activist Aliya Magda al-Mahdy, who posted a nude picture of herself on her blog and got attacked by many people while merely expressing her right of self-expression in the new Egypt,” said the page, which has garnered couple dozen fans already. “We will support Aliya by posing nude and posting our pictures here to show the world, and specially the ultra-conservatives who might very well harm Aliya without our support,” it added, although to date, it has not seen any other images posted. Mahdy sparked controversy last weekend when she posed completely nude and posted the photo on her personal blog. She wrote on her website that it was an act of protest, but both liberals and conservatives have condemned the move. Now, she faces a court case over the image, which has already been viewed over one million times and rising. “The old constitution and the new declarations of the new one says Islamic law is the source of governing, therefore we asked for Islamic law penalties to be executed on the two bloggers,” Ahmed Yehia, coordinator of the coalition told Bikyamasr.com. “It is an insult to the revolution as these two persons who pretend to be one of the revolutionists and asking for sexual freedoms, they are giving the uprising a bad name,” he continued. BM
