Arabian Nights sparks book row in Egypt

A battle over Arabian Nights has emerged in Egypt, with a group of lawyers calling for a ban of the centuries-old story collection and the country's writers blasting the campaign.

A group of Islamist attorneys who call themselves Lawyers without Borders have filed a complaint with Egypt's Prosecutor General over the book, also known as 1,001 Nights.

Calling for the withdrawal of a recently released edition of Arabian Nights and a ban on the classic title altogether, the group described its tales as lewd and said the tales encouraged "vice and sin."

"I was shocked at the offensive phrases it contains," Ayman Abdul Hakim, a member of the group, told TV station Al Arabiya.

The recently released Arabic-language edition, spearheaded by Egypt's state-run agency General Organisation for Cultural Palaces, was "a waste of public money," the group said.

The agency's chair defended the classic, saying that the new edition had been so popular that its first print run had sold out.

"Egyptians are avid readers and they will not be influenced by a bunch of people who take advantage of Islam in order to suppress freedom," COCP chair Ahmed Megahed told Al Arabiya.

And here:
Egyptian anger at Islamist call to ban Arabian Nights
Egyptian writers have condemned a call by a group of Islamic lawyers for the classic book Arabian Nights to be banned because it is "obscene".
(thanks vza)