Egypt's religious authorities raided book stores and stands on Saturday, confiscating hundreds of publications as well as audio and video tapes they claim do not conform to Islamic teachings.
The raid came only three days after Justice Minister Faruq Seif al-Nasr granted Al-Azar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious institution, wide-ranging powers to ban and confiscate material it deems violate religious principles.
PHOTO: AP
Novels by secular writers and even unorthodox versions of the Islamic holy book, the Koran, were seized in the raids, raising concerns the religious establishment might use its new powers to suppress free thought.
Human rights groups and the liberal intelligentsia condemned the move, spearheaded by Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Center (IRC), as an attempt to stifle freedom of expression and warned that it could encourage violence against secular writers.
They mentioned two individuals in particular whose publications were targeted in the raids: Egyptian feminist writer Nawal Saadawi and researcher Ahmed Ismail.
According to the Egyptian Human Rights Center for Legal Aid, Ismail was assaulted by members of the extremist Salafist group, who denounced him as being an infidel.
The IRC demanded the confiscation of Saadawi's The Fall of the Imam, published nearly 20 years ago, for allegedly violating Islamic precepts.
The novel tells the story of a dictator surrounded by Islamic scholars, who use the Koran to justify the dictator's actions, even if that means giving false interpretations of verses in the holy book.
Alaa Abd El-Zaher, head of the IRC's videotape department, however, argued that the confiscations were only "limited to religious publications" and did not cover "literary works."
In the mid 1990s, the IRC recommended the suspension of renowned Egyptian film director Yussef Shahine's Al-Mohageer (The Emigre) and the banning of author Alaa Hamed's Voyage into the Human Mind, a philosophical reflection on faith and atheism.
The author was later jailed for six months.
Islamists also filed a case in court against Cairo University professor Hamed Abu Zeid, demanding that he be divorced from his wife.
They alleged that anti-Islamic writings had made him an apostate and therefore could not remain married to his Muslim wife, Ibtehal Yunis, a Spanish lecturer at Cairo university.
The couple was later forced to flee the country and live in exile in the Netherlands.
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights expressed fear on Tuesday that the Justice Ministry's decision would lead to violations of freedoms, including of thought and expression, which are enshrined in the constitution.
Brazil, the world’s largest Roman Catholic country, saw its Catholic population decline further in 2022, while evangelical Christians and those with no religion continued to rise, census data released on Friday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) showed. The census indicated that Brazil had 100.2 million Roman Catholics in 2022, accounting for 56.7 percent of the population, down from 65.1 percent or 105.4 million recorded in the 2010 census. Meanwhile, the share of evangelical Christians rose to 26.9 percent last year, up from 21.6 percent in 2010, adding 12 million followers to reach 47.4 million — the highest figure
A Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving in the US at Detroit airport, the second case in days involving the alleged smuggling of biological material, authorities said on Monday. The scientist is accused of shipping biological material months ago to staff at a laboratory at the University of Michigan. The FBI, in a court filing, described it as material related to certain worms and requires a government permit. “The guidelines for importing biological materials into the US for research purposes are stringent, but clear, and actions like this undermine the legitimate work of other visiting scholars,” said John Nowak, who leads field
‘THE RED LINE’: Colombian President Gustavo Petro promised a thorough probe into the attack on the senator, who had announced his presidential bid in March Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay, a possible candidate in the country’s presidential election next year, was shot and wounded at a campaign rally in Bogota on Saturday, authorities said. His conservative Democratic Center party released a statement calling it “an unacceptable act of violence.” The attack took place in a park in the Fontibon neighborhood when armed assailants shot him from behind, said the right-wing Democratic Center, which was the party of former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe. The men are not related. Images circulating on social media showed Uribe Turbay, 39, covered in blood being held by several people. The Santa Fe Foundation
Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel yesterday, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, the day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Thunberg, 22, was put on a flight to France, the ministry said, adding that she would travel on to Sweden from there. Three other people who had been aboard the charity vessel also agreed to immediate repatriation. Eight other crew members are contesting their deportation order, Israeli rights group Adalah, which advised them, said in a statement. They are being held at a detention center ahead of a
RSS