Prosecution to question Egypt author for Coptic 'insult'
AFP
CAIRO- An Egyptian author whose book enraged the Coptic Church said on Wednesday he was wanted for questioning by the state security prosecution on suspicion of maligning the Christian faith.
Public prosecutor "Abdel Magid Mahmud has referred me to the state security prosecution in response to a complaint that reached him from the church and some Coptic activists," Yusef Zeidan told AFP.
A judicial source said the complaint was expected to go to the state security prosecution, but it was uncertain whether it would reach trial.
A church and a mosque are pictured at sunset in the southern Egyptian town of Nagaa Hammadi in January.
The book won the Arabic Booker prize in 2009.
The author also recently told a newspaper Copts lived in a "dark age" before the 7th century Muslim conquest, saying the Copts were oppressed by Romans and other Christian sects.
Coptic activist and lawyer Nagib Gibrail said he complained to the public prosecutor against Zeidan, a Muslim, not because of the novel, a popular seller in Egypt, but because of his remarks to the newspaper.
"I am not against literature and the imagery a novelist might use in a creative work," he said.
Gibrail also alleged that Zeidan scorned the Christian belief that Jesus Christ, as the son of God, came to earth as a man.
Egyptian law disallows insults against religion, and has banned works deemed by Muslims to be offensive. Egypt banned the film adaptation of the "Da Vinci Code" in 2006 after complaints from Christian lawmakers.
Hani Nazeer, a blogger who linked a website that published a book responding to Zeidan's novel "Azzazil's Goat in Mecca" has been detained since 2008. The book was said to have insulted Islam.
Copts make up about 10 percent of the country's 80-million population, and frequently complain of discrimination by the Muslim majority.
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