Egyptian Actor Adel Imam Sentenced for insulting Islam
2/4/2012
Adel Imam
Adel Imam, probably the top comedian in the Arab world for the last forty years (along with Sameer Ghanem who is from a Coptic Background) , is now under threat from Islamists who swept the “Arab Spring” elections. Imam is from a Muslim background and has a light smile surrounding him wherever he went. He is a much loved actor. However, Islamists are now in power, and Imam’s funny acts and jokes are not a welcome sight by Islamists, even though they are much welcomed by most people.
Imam received a three-month jail sentence for insulting Islam in films and plays, a court document showed on Thursday.
Reuters - Imam, who has frequently poked fun at authorities and politicians of all colors during a 40-year career, has one month to appeal the sentence and will remain out of jail until the appeal process is concluded.
The sentence Wednesday evening came weeks after Islamists swept most seats in a parliamentary election. The case was brought by Asran Mansour, a lawyer with ties to Islamist groups, and had languished in court for months, judicial sources said.
Mansour accused the actor of offending Islam and its symbols, including beards and the Jilbab, a loose-fitting garment worn by some Muslims, the Egyptian news portal Ahramonline reported.
Among films and plays targeted by the lawyer were the movie “Morgan Ahmed Morgan” and the play “Al-Zaeem” (“The Leader”), the report said.
Imam was also handed a fine of 1,000 Egyptian pounds ($170) in absentia, the court document showed. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
Court cases against directors, actors, artists and intellectuals for failing to respect religious authority are common in Egypt. But the case against Imam is likely to draw attention due to his high profile and the timing of the verdict.
Egypt’s most successful movie star, Imam has been a box-office sell-out for much of his career. His more serious films have dealt with the rise of the Islamist militancy and taken aim at incompetent government officials.
“I think the lawyer who filed the case against Imam is taking advantage of the current circumstances with Islamists gaining power in Egypt,” said Nabil Abdel Fattah, an analyst and researcher at al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo.
He said the sentence had likely been handed down because Imam had failed to appear in court, and expected it to be overturned on appeal.
Egyptian telecom tycoon and political liberal Naguib Sawiris also faces trial on a charge of showing contempt for religion in a case brought by another Islamist lawyer. Sawiris, a prominent figure in Egypt’s Coptic Christian community, was accused of showing contempt by tweeting a cartoon seen as insulting to Islam.
Source: Mohabat News
Posted by FFI Editor
on February 4 2012. Filed under News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
muslim countries don;t know except blasphemy law and religious persecution , treating them as 2nd class citizens .
this muslim god must be a little weakling, if it needs blasphemy laws for it's protection
The muslim God hates jokes and humor
Eliminating Muslim clerics would drastically diminish all violence, hatred, discrimination and attacks. Unless Islamic clerics experience the same pain, suffering, anxiety as their victims, nothing is going to change. They are the source of all evil by eliminating them, millions of people will be free of their domination.
Skorpio, you have been keep recommending this suggestion for quite a while. Remember Japan has already done so, followed by China and former USSR. Did the Islamic fanaticism eradicated in those parts on the earth? You cant breath freely under the poisonous tree just by trimming it. You have to destroy it from root.
I think we need both peaceful manner as well as startegic planning to eradicate islam on earth.
I have a lot of suggestion. please reply to my e-mail,
ramithap1985@yahoo.com
I HAVE EMAILED YOU SEND ME FORMULA
It is absolutely necessary to mock, ridicule and blaspheme all forms of authority, or else they grow into monsters, as we see with Islam.
Islam is against all entertainment in the world, they don’t like film, drama etc. They don’t like any art. They wan to do one thing if any one tries to critisise their religion, they want to injure,disturb, tease, and even kill.
my blessings to this man. he surly has courage.
Islamists taking over in Egypt will do more good than harm. It has started with Adil Immam. Like Iranians, Egyptians are going to see the true color of Islam, soon.
God, I don’t know what i should say here, but what I see all around that the western countries are attacking the Islam in every possible way as a governor but the people of western countries they have no idea about the Islam thus what they hear about it from the their media they will believe it so I don’t blame you from saying anything about Islam but I don’t blame myself that I couldn’t show you the right picture about Islam but if you want to see the truth and know the Muslims and understand that they are a nice people not as they media pictured him to you, you can visit this site as a start then you will keep going in the right road to the truth http://www.introductiontoislam.org/
Man it is dependent not just for medias or films…etc .This islam we can see clearly how they are harm ,ridicule nad kill people.
1.Pakistan everyday even one bomb blast recorded ,killing peoples.(is it islam country or other religious)?
2.Literecy rate,Infant mortality rates,rapes ,are recorded high in islam countries or christian or other religious countries?
3.where are the People living very poor conditions (even without jobs,foods,sanitary facillities) ? in islam countries or other religious countries?
4.Where the people can deliver their speech freely,observe their religion as they wishand will and also select any political view without harm?(is in islamic countries or other religious countries)
we people don't believe merely the news and programmes of media ,but we also believe factors that can see clearly in the world.
if you can please post ur answers of the above questions.( please don't try to lie because i have official statistics of the all countries regarding factors)
EGGHEAD DON'T KNOW REALITY
DO GOOGLE SEARCH FOR INFORMATION
relogion of terror and error-pisslam
HAHAHA….What is reality? Jughead?
Sounds like Egypt is like the UK. If Adel Imam had made jokes at the expense of any 'preferential groups' the UK courts would be doing the same to him.
The green shoots of tolitarianism from intolerant people are growing everywhere.
HAhhahaha Islamic jannats where moslem scum bags are very happy and helpful,peaceful.Islamic jannats where there is perfect concordance of science and religion and perfectly happy place. Women are respected, children are loved and educated.there is perfect harmony of people and nature,Hmm why not send these two cretins there? Afghanisthan, porkisthan, Somalia, Iraq,Iran, Indonesia, Tunisia, Libya,Algeria,Jordan, syria, Egypt… Hmm the list is long.Why not send these scum bags to those places and restrict them to only those jannats? Why allow these dirt bags to kafir land?