The undersigned organizations condemn the sentence in absentia by the Beba court of misdemeanor in Beni Eouief (see below) against writer and human rights activist and director of the Land Center for Human Rights, Mr. Karam Saber. The case which carries the number 8729/2013 concluded with a prison sentence of five years and a 1000 EGP bail, was filed against him in view of his story collection “Where is God” released in 2011 and for which he was accused by a number of citizens of defamation of divinity and propagating atheism.
The case began on the 12th of April 2011 when a number of citizens in Beni Souief governorate filed the complaint no. 600/2011 to the general attorney of Beni Soueif prosecution accusing Karam Saber of producing a collection of stories by the title “Where is God” including 11 short stories which allegedly call for atheism, defame divinity, incite strife and spill of blood.
The prosecution undertaking the investigations consulted the church in Beni Souief as well as Al Azhar seeking their opinion and whether the accusations were correct.
The church expressed its opinion that the content of this literary work contradicts divine religions, ridicules the divine and invents stories that are far from noble and sophisticated literature. The opinion of Al Azhar did not differ much stating that the literary work destroys intellectual values of Egyptian society and tears apart Egyptian fabric. Both institutions demanded that the book be banned from circulation since it negatively affects society. In view of this debate Al Ahram and Al Akhbar publishing houses refused to disseminate the book through their distribution channels, which led the author to distribute it personally to the different bookshops.
The sentence against Karam Saber is the third of its kind within one week, preceded by a one year prison sentence by Assiut court of misdemeanor against lawyer Romani Murad Saad for defamation of religion and another sentence of a 100 thousand EGP fine by Luxor court of misdemeanor against teacher Demiana Abdelnour also for defamation of religion, a crime that over the past few months has come to constitute a threat for everybody who if of different views than the mainstream or who wishes to express his/her views in different ways.
The undersigned organizations believe that the conduct of the prosecution in dealing with vague complaints filed against citizens accusing them of defamation of religion is raising question marks regarding the role of the prosecution and the efforts it makes in providing evidence of the alleged charges. The prosecution has chosen to summon the accused subjects and interrogate them and refer them to trial irrespective of available evidence, thereby abusing its authority and reflecting that its decisions are influenced by its religious sentiments.
The undersigned organizations also wish to express their views that Al Azhar and the church are not at all entitled to evaluate a literary work, since any such work is a product of the writer’s imagination and hence not subject to interference by any religious institution, nor is the decision whether the literary work is corrupting society or far from being noble or sophisticated, the criteria of which, according to religious institutions, remain unknown. Also, what are the credentials of those institutions to evaluate literary work and are they entitled to control people’s imagination by claiming that its encourages corruption or destroys or tears Egyptian fabric?
The five year prison sentence against Karam Saber is a new blow to freedom of opinion and expression in Egypt. The charge of defamation of religion has become a widely used charge with the access of the Muslim Brotherhood to power, whose supporters take benefit of the loose and unconstitutional provisions of the penal code in that regard, to achieve political and social gains.
It is therefore that the undersigned organizations hold Egyptian authorities responsible for those violations in view of their silence towards amending those restrictive provisions, which belong to an era of despotism and which they were expected to terminate. Instead they added new restrictive provisions beginning with constitutional provisions that restrict freedom of expression, to maintaining punitive measures against all form of innovation and concluding with defamation cases which not only try individuals for exercising their right to free expression but also searches their minds for strength of belief and mainstream conviction.
Signatories:
1. Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI).
2. Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression.
3. Cairo Institute for human rights studies (CIHRS).
4. Center for Appropriate Communication Techniques (ACT).
5. Egyptian Foundation for the Advancement of Childhood Conditions.
6. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).
7. Hisham Mubarak Law Center.
8. Nazra for Feminist Studies.
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