CAIRO - More than 130 Egyptian intellectuals have signed a statement in solidarity with novelist Tarek Emam, who was announced as the winner of a State Incentive Award for his novel 'The Calm of Killers' (hodo' alqattal), but who subsequently had the award withdrawn due to allegations that his novel did not meet the award's eligibility requirements. Signatories to the statement demand that the award be granted to the young writer on legal and moral grounds. Cultural officials say they have found out that the same novel was awarded the Sawiris prize for literature earlier this year. "Emam is eligible for the State award because he ranked the second in the Sawiris prize in January 2010, whereas the Ministry of Culture had closed the nominations for the State Award on December 31, 2009," read the statement. The statement concluded with a call for immediate and decisive action by Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni, to end the deadlock that the statement described as an affront to Egypt's cultural scene and to the credibility of State awards. Amin Abu-Ghazy, the Secretary General of the Supreme Cultural Council, told Al-Gomhuria on Saturday that the matter had been referred to the legal council of the Supreme Cultural Council, an affiliate of the Ministry of Culture that grants the awards.
