(HRW/IFEX) – The following is an 8 October 1999 Human Rights Watch press release: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DROP LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST LEBANESE SINGER Marcel Khalifa Faces Three Years in Prison (New York, October 8, 1999) –Human Rights Watch today condemned efforts in Lebanon to prosecute the internationally known singer and composer Marcel Khalifa because one […]
(HRW/IFEX) – The following is an 8 October 1999 Human Rights Watch press
release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DROP LEGAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST LEBANESE SINGER
Marcel Khalifa Faces Three Years in Prison
(New York, October 8, 1999) –Human Rights Watch today condemned efforts in
Lebanon to prosecute the internationally known singer and composer Marcel
Khalifa because one of his songs includes a verse from the Koran.
Investigating judge Abdel Rahman Shihab last week recommended that
prosecutors bring criminal charges against Khalifa for “insulting religious
values by using a verse from the chapter of Joseph from the Holy Koran in a
song.” If Khalifa is charged, he would face trial and possible imprisonment
of six months to three years.
“The right to freedom of expression protects everyone, including musicians
and artists,” said Hanny Megally, executive director of the Middle East and
North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. “Lebanese law is being used to
brand as a criminal one of the leading Arab singers. These proceedings
should be dropped and this case should be
closed.”
Under Article 473 of Lebanon’s penal code, blasphemy in public is punishable
by one month to one year in prison. Article 474 of the penal code authorizes
imprisonment of six months to three years for publicly insulting a religion.
The judge’s action against Khalifa concerns “I am Yousef, O Father,” a song
on the musician’s 1995 album, which is based on a work of Palestinian poet
Mahmoud Darwish. Lebanese authorities focused on one line in the song: “I
saw eleven stars, and the sun and the moon bowing down before me.” After the
judge’s actions were publicized, Khalifa said on October 2, “The
incriminating evidence is not a verse from the Koran, but a rewriting of the
verse by a poet which is something very common in Arab literature..”
The spiritual leader of Lebanon’s Sunni Muslims, Sheikh Muhamed Rashid
Qabbani, said that musical arrangements of Koranic verses were prohibited.
He was quoted as saying that Khalifa’s song “insulted the divine inspiration
of Prophet Muhamed to whom God revealed the Koran.” His view was challenged
by Sheikh Muhhamed Hussein Fadlallah, the Shiite spritual leader in Lebanon,
who said in a statement that “the composition of the song does not distract
from nor harm the sacredness of the Koran.”
Prominent Lebanese intellectual, political, and religious figures rallied to
Khalifa’s defense in Beirut on October 5, where he performed the song to a
standing ovation.