CAIRO: A lawyer on Saturday challenged a law that allows writers to be jailed for violating public morals, requesting the suspension of a case against an author on trial for work that prosecutors say is immoral.
Nasser Amin made the motion in court during the trial of Ahmed Naji, who faces up to two years in jail and a fine up to 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,245) if found guilty of violating a law that says individuals can be punished for publishing material contrary to public morals.
Amin requested a constitutional court review the law, citing two articles in the constitution that prohibit imprisonment for published material, except for cases that encourage violence, are discriminatory and in incidents of defamation. The case stems from an excerpt of Naji’s novel, “The Use of Life,” published in Akhbar Al-Adab magazine in August 2014.
It contains explicit sex acts and references to habitual hashish use by the characters.
The prosecution insisted the excerpt be treated as a work of journalism.
Amin linked the prosecution to a crackdown in Egypt over the past two years against extremists following the July 2013 military ouster of President Muhammad Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Egypt lawyer challenges law that says writers can be jailed
Egypt lawyer challenges law that says writers can be jailed
Trump offers to mediate Egypt-Ethiopia dispute on Nile River waters
- Egypt says the dam violates international treaties and could cause both droughts and flooding, a claim Ethiopia rejects
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump offered on Friday to mediate a dispute over Nile River waters between Egypt and Ethiopia. “I am ready to restart US mediation between Egypt and Ethiopia to responsibly resolve the question of ‘The Nile Water Sharing’ once and for all,” he wrote to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in a letter that also was posted on Trump’s Truth Social account.
Addis Ababa’s September 9 inauguration of its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has been a source of anger in Cairo, which is downstream on the Nile.
Ethiopia, the continent’s second-most populous nation with more than 120 million people, sees the $5 billion dam on a tributary of the Nile as central to its economic ambitions.
Egypt says the dam violates international treaties and could cause both droughts and flooding, a claim Ethiopia rejects.
Trump has praised El-Sisi in the past, including during an October trip to Egypt to sign a deal related to the Gaza conflict. In public comments, Trump has echoed Cairo’s concerns about the water issue.
