CAIRO: A human rights group condemned in a statement Sunday a complaint filed by Salafis against cartoonist Moustafa Hussein and sarcastic writer Ahmed Ragab over a caricature that criticized their ideology. “The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) [further] slams the Salafis who hacked Saturday evening the official website of [weekly state-owned] Akbar El-Youm newspaper where the cartoon was published hours earlier,” the statement read. Right after the cartoon was published on the paper's front page, a number of youths who identify themselves as Salafis (adhering to a strict interpretation of Islam) filed a complaint at the prosecutor general against Ragab and Hussein accusing them of defaming Islam and contempt for religion. They also claimed that Ragab and Hussein insulted Salafis, incited public opinion against them as well as attacked the personal lives of Muslim women who wear the niqab (full face veil). The hackers replaced the newspaper's homepage with a copy of the contentious cartoon and an answer to it. “What about all this talk of avoiding religious strife? If something like this was said about any Christian, what would have been the reaction?” said the accompanying text. “The world would have turned upside down [for the violation] of human rights; there would be sit-ins. But since they're cursing the Salafis and the women wearing niqab, then it's [okay] because this is freedom of expression and opinion. Is freedom of expression only evoked when Muslims are being cursed?” On the other side, ANHRI said that it totally refuses that any person or group imposes censorship on creativity and freedom of expression in the same way the Mubarak regime used to suppress [such rights], referring to lawsuits filed against several writers and journalists for criticizing the regime of ousted president Hosni Mubarak. “The January 25 Revolution broke out to guarantee general freedoms, including the freedom of expression for everyone. Salafi groups themselves benefited from this [state of] freedom of expression after suffering from suppression,” the statement read. “Now instead of defending the freedom which the Egyptian people were deprived of for many years, they adopt the same censorship policies … which raise fears over the rise of Islamists after the revolution,” ANHRI added. The human rights watchdog called on authorities not to facilitate “hisba” cases and amend Egyptian laws to prevent persecuting people for their opinions. Hisba is a doctrine that entitles any Muslim to take legal action against anyone considered harmful to Islam. The concept is sometimes evoked in politically-motivated lawsuits.
