Censorship in Islamic societies: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

Line 7:

In [[Egypt]] in the late 1990s, Khalil Jibran's "The Prophet" was ordered removed from the library at the [[American University in Cairo]] by government authorities.<ref name=Najjar>{{cite journal|last=Najjar|first=Fauzi M.|title=Book Banning in Contemporary Egypt|journal=Muslim World|year=2001|volume=91|accessdate=17 September 2012|page=399|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|issn=00274909}}</ref> Censorship has been defended in Egypt by noted writers, such as Rif'at Sayyid Ahmad, who stated: "Freedom of publication must be limited by the intentions of the Shari'a and the principles of religion.”<ref name=Najjar /> As recently as 2007, the courts were used to try and silence writers whom the censors deemed inappropriate, such as the questioning of [[Nawal El Saadawi]] as part of a ''hisba'' lawsuit to declare her an infidel or non-believer for her writings.<ref name="El Saadawi">{{cite journal|last=El Saadawi|first=Nawal|title=Free Speech on the Retreat|journal=Index on Censorship|year=2007|volume=36|pages=185-187|doi=10.1080/03064220701332877|accessdate=17 September 2012|issn=03064220}}</ref>

In 2007, the [[Sudanese teddy bear blasphemy case]] demonstrated the censorship effect of Islamic [[blasphemy]] laws with the arrest, trial, conviction, and imprisonment of British schoolteacher Gillian Gibbons in [[Sudan]].<ref name=Graham>{{cite journal|last=Graham|first=L. Bennett|title=Defamation of Religions: The End of Pluralism?|journal=Emory International Law Review|year=2009|volume=23|page=69|publisher=Emory University}}</ref> She was arrested by "men with big beards ... saying they wanted to kill her"<ref name=Belknap>{{cite journal|last=Belknap|first=Allison G.|title=Defamation of Religions: A Vague and Overbroad Theory that Threatens Basic Human Rights|journal=Brigham Young University Law Review|year=2010|volume=2010|page=635|publisher=Brigham Young University}}</ref> and imprisoned for allegedly insulting Islam by allowing her class to name a [[teddy bear]] "Muhammad." Only the intervention of the British government prevented harsher punishment.<ref name=Graham /><ref name=Belknap />

==See also==