(EOHR/IFEX) – The following is a 1 December 2002 EOHR press release: Lebanese magazine Al Adab banned from distribution in Egypt EOHR has received information that the November-December edition of the Lebanese Arab Literary and cultural review Al Adab has been banned from distribution in Egypt by Egyptian authorities. Ironically, the banned edition contains articles […]
(EOHR/IFEX) – The following is a 1 December 2002 EOHR press release:
Lebanese magazine Al Adab banned from distribution in Egypt
EOHR has received information that the November-December edition of the Lebanese Arab Literary and cultural review Al Adab has been banned from distribution in Egypt by Egyptian authorities. Ironically, the banned edition contains articles on censorship in Egypt.
Mr. Sameh Iddris, the editor-in-chief of Al Adab, told EOHR he was informed by the Lebanese distributor that the particular issue of Al Adab had been banned and that the Egyptian authorities failed to provide any justification for their actions.
The magazine has begun a series of articles monitoring censorship in the Arab world that commenced with Syria. The banned edition contains articles and testimonies from about 19 writers, journalists, academics and publishers in Egypt, including Ahmed Al-Khamisy, Sona Allh Ibrahim, Idward El Kharat, Nasr Hamid Abou Zeed, Samia Mahraz, Somaya Ramadan, Karem Yahia and the publisher Muhamed Madbuly. The material criticized the forms and mechanisms of censorship in Egypt.
EOHR denounces such restrictions on freedom of opinion and expression in Egypt and calls on the Egyptian authorities to stop all forms of confiscation and censorship of freedom of opinion and expression. EOHR urges the Government to recognise that measures aimed at reducing freedom of opinion and expression are futile in the era of mass communication. Further, such regressive policies will only tarnish Egypt’s human rights record.
