Egyptian intellectuals have called censors to review their criteria for imposing ban on TV, cinema and theater productions accusing them of encouraging backward ideas.
An unprecedented campaign has been launched against censors following their green light for the series A’elat al Hag Mitwalli to be aired during last Ramadan.
The series explores the life of a polygamous man who marries four wives. The Egyptian media blasted the series which sparked the anger of the Woman National Council headed by the Egyptian first lady Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak.
The council called about 1000 intellectuals, artists and members of women assemblies to participate in a dialogue entitled “Family Image On TV” in order to demand censors to review their criteria for imposing ban on productions.
“Time has come for censors to put an end to the three taboos they defend, the religious, sex and political taboos, ”the secretary general of the Higher Council for Culture, Gaber Asfour, who teaches Arabic language at the University of Cairo told AFP.
However, there are two agencies for censorship in Egypt: one for monitoring the TV productions including series and films and the other for giving approval for plays and scenarios before they are portrayed.
“Scriptwriters and other writers should be free from restrictions imposed upon them by clerics who know nothing about arts,” added Asfour.
He condemned the third censorship agency, which is the al Azhar Islamic Studies agency. This agency which has wide authorities can impose ban on art and literary productions which it sees harming Islam in a country which derives its laws from the Islamic Shariah (laws).
Being a religious organization close to the government, this agency frequently interferes to bar books and novels such as Awlad Haretna (Our Neighborhood Boys) written by the Egyptian noble prize winning writer, Naguib Mahfouz in 1950.
Asfour proposed the establishment of a technical office for the Egyptian intellectuals who are capable of deciding upon the real value of any production.
For his part, the scriptwriter Mahfouz Abdel Rahman who wrote the series Umm Kulthoum condemned the negative role, which the censors play attempting to arouse political issues. “I myself was a victim of censors who imposed ban on all of my work for 11 years,” he added – Albawaba.com
