It was more than six months ago that novelist Ahmed Naji was sentenced to two years in prison for an excerpt of his Using Life that ran in Akhbar al-Adab magazine:
For these six months and more, the young novelist has been in Tora Agricultural Prison for a creative work published in August 2014. The charge against his novel excerpt was that it harmed “public morality” in Egypt.
The February 20 verdict was issued based on Article 178 of Egypt’s penal code. This, supporters say, “despite a motion submitted by Naji’s defense team on December 12 to establish the unconstitutionality of the provision, and despite an earlier acquittal of Naji in court on January 2 due to an inability to find any criminal intent.”
The next court session in Naji’s case will be on Saturday, August 27. Supporters are asking anyone who is in Egypt to attend:
We invite all writers, journalists…
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