Sudan asked to explain why it jailed 2 Egyptians
December 18, 2007 (CAIRO, Egypt) — Egypt wants an explanation from Sudan after a court sentenced two Egyptians to six months in prison for selling a book the Khartoum government believes was offensive to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, a senior diplomat was quoted as saying Tuesday.
Ahmed el-Quweisiny, an assistant to Egypt’s foreign minister, said a Sudanese court sentenced the two Egyptians on Sunday after they were found guilty of selling a book at the Khartoum International Book Fair that it considered blasphemous and slanderous to Islam, the official Egyptian news agency, MENA, reported.
The Sudanese government has not commented about the sentencing. The verdict did not appeared in any official local media, though the independent Al-Rai Al-Aam newspaper in Sudan published brief articles it.
The ruling comes about two weeks after a Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir pardoned a British school teacher who was convicted of the same charge after her elementary school students named a teddy bear Muhammad.
The conviction and sentencing of Gillian Gibbons to ten days in prison sparked international outcry. She has said she never intended to insult Muslims.
El-Quweisiny identified the two men as Abdel-Fatah el-Sadani and Mahrous Abdel-Azim and said they worked for the Cairo-based Madbouli Publication House, according to MENA.
An official at Madbouli said the publishing house had the approval of the Sudanese sensors to sell the book at the fair. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the he did want to jeopardize efforts to release the two employees.
Last week, Sudanese Minister of Justice Mohammed Ali al-Mardhi said authorities considered the book “The Mother of the Faithful Devours Her Sons” by Syrian author Nabil Fayyadh slanderous to the prophet and Aisha, one of his wives.
The Sudanese minister said Monday that two Sudanese government employees were also on trial for “failing to properly carry out their duty of preventing such a book from entering the country.”
The book researches classical Islamic literature about Aisha, and the Sudanese government, which is Sunni, deems the book blasphemous because includes criticisms about her. Aisha is revered by Sunni Muslims as the “Mother of the Faithful” but derided by Shiites for fighting their revered saint Ali, Muhammad’s cousin.
(AP)