Adel Imam Sentenced to 3 Months for 'Defaming Islam'
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
A Cairo court has sentenced the Arab world's most famous actor, Adel Iman, to three months in jail for "defaming Islam" in several roles on stage and screen, the Egyptian comic said on Thursday.
Imam, a U.N. goodwill ambassador who has been described as the Arab world's Charlie Chaplin, was sentenced to hard labor in absentia, he told AFP after being sued by Asran Mansur, a lawyer with Islamist ties.
"I will appeal the ruling," Imam said.
"Some people seeking fame filed a suit against me over works I have done which they consider insulting to Islam, and this is of course not true," he said.
The 71-year-old celebrity has a long history of legal tangles with Islamists who regard the actor's work as blasphemous.
In the latest case, the actor said the works criticized are the 1994 movie "Al-Irhabi" (The Terrorist), in which he portrays an Islamic fundamentalist and the play "Al-Zaeem" (The Leader), a comedy in which Imam pokes fun at the region's autocratic leaders.
"All the works in which I have starred went through the censors. Had they been found to be defamatory, the censors would have banned them," Imam said.
Imam has acted in more than 100 films and 10 plays that are highly appreciated by the Arab public for their irreverence towards both the powerful and the religious.
In a 1998 TV debate, called "Star on a Hot Tin Roof", Imam squared off with three Islamists from the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement whose members now hold a strong majority in Egypt's parliament.
Since 2000, Imam has served as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency, alongside likes of film star Angelina Jolie and Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani.
"In the course of his rich career, he has mixed humor with sadness to portray ordinary people who are victims of injustice and poverty," the agency says in a biography of imam on its website.
"For all these reasons, Imam became a symbol for people promoting tolerance and human rights in the Arab world," it said.
02 February 2012, 17:44
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It comes as the majority of Egypt opposes the defamation of any religion...so, yes, it is a step towards democracy!
02 February 2012, 18:29
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where is that dude that keeps blaming the zionist intelligence department? maybe he can stick this onto them too
02 February 2012, 18:34
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Surprise surprise... And then you wonder why some Egyptians start to regret Mubbarak...
The poor guys who started the Egyptian revolution, as those from Tunisia and Libya, have been stripped from their rights to speak and will probably soon end up in jail. Freedom of speech will be banned. And nothing will have changed because in any case these idiots retrogrades can do nothing to create more jobs and improve quality of life for the poorest - not even speaking about the minorities...
Bravo!
02 February 2012, 18:52
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anybody remembers what the happened when basmat watan "defamed" hassan nasrallah
02 February 2012, 19:30
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"Defamation of Islam" a job that is already better done by those who claim to be the True Muslims!
02 February 2012, 19:53
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Adel Imam did not defame Islam. He simply exposed the MB's and salafites' roots as British-established and their roles in sectarian hatred in Egypt.
02 February 2012, 20:56
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Yousef, criticism is not the same as defamation. For example, I cannot go around and spread lies about you, this is called defamation.
02 February 2012, 22:47
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this is what people get when voting muslim brotherhood and salafis to power.
whole society even the judges go crazy.
that's why we dealt with domestic and imported fanatics on nahr el bared and may 7.
02 February 2012, 23:20
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Humm funny I distinctly remember that groundhog hassin of the resistance put red lines around the filthy Islamist terrorists released from a jail in Syria and sent to Nahr el Bared.
I also recall how the smelly members of the Zionist spies infested filthy bee3at al hadinat Iranian revolution in Lebanon attacking the people in Achrafieh after some TV actor put a dress and a turban on to look like groundhog hassin of the resistance. The TV actor was a Christian so obviously the smelly members of the Zionist spies infested filthy bee3at al hadinat Iranian revolution in Lebanon looked for Christians to punish for the defamation of groundhog hassin of the resistance's image and they had to come all the way to Achrafieh for that.
03 February 2012, 03:22
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This is just a transition period. The disparate will come out for a last breath of air and then the young educated generation will take over. This might take another 5-10 years ( hopefully less) but its a new middle east in the happening.
03 February 2012, 03:25
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How would they know what democracy is and rights are if they never experienced either. Liberty and freedom evolve through ongoing experiences and trials not a switch that gets flipped on and off. Unfortuantely the corrupt dictators of the Middle East were too consumed accumulating wealth and power while oppressing the populace. The ignorant and oppressed becomes an easy prey for religious zealots. If I were to predict the future I would predict that after the zealots rule for few years they will cause enough harm resulting in a backlash and the pendulum will swing again. It will take few swings of the pendulum before it finally settles in the zone of moderation, reason, civility and respect for human life. We can not know what the future would be like but we know what existed until now does not offer any solutions and contributed to the backward state we are in.
03 February 2012, 04:55
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@jabalamel: Dealt with Nahr Al Bared which your saint Nasrallah said was a red line and told the military not to go into the camp to fight the terrorists. 3 months hard labor with chance of appeal is a lot better than what the crazy fundamentalists in Iran do to people who defame Islam (straight to hanging. Also don't forget your friends burning liquor stores int the south. So what's the difference between Salafi and Huzb Allah extremists? Both commit terrorist attacks and both are religious fundamentalist extremists.
03 February 2012, 08:13
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Imported fanatics that 'we' dealt with? My, how you do love to twist the facts, JAmel. Your resistance completely washed its hands of 'dealing' with those fanatics. As for your divine leader, he famously declared that entering Nahr el-Bared was a 'red line'. If it hadn't been for the Lebanese army - backed by the way, by your favourite local villains, M14 - there would probably still be an 'insurrection' going on there today.
I don't doubt that many of those responsible for the fighting were 'imported' or even that some might have been supported by KSA. But let's not lie by trying to pretend it was Hezbollah that brought the problem to an end.
