"Officials representing Al-Azhar and the Egyptian Ministry of Islamic Endowments visited Madbouli bookshop (a well known book outlet in Talaat Harb Square in central Cairo) and asked them to stop selling the book ‘Blasphemy in Egypt’ by Hamdi Assiouti and Magdi Khalil because it is anti-Islam," the Middle East Freedom Forum said in a statement.
The officials threatened the bookshop to take unspecified actions (presumably to accuse the owners of “derision of Islam”), so the authors had to withdraw the book at the request of the bookshop.
The book is the first book in Arabic that tackles issues of blasphemy in Egypt from legal and political viewpoints. Egypt does not have blasphemy laws as such, but there are provisions in the penal code to punish any acts perceived as derision of (any “heavenly”) religion. In practice only Islam is concerned. The loose wording of the law article makes it a dreadful tool to muzzle any critique of Islam. It has also been used to punish people on as flimsy accusations as making a post on a personal Facebook page.
"The book was issued by a registered publishing house in Egypt, and has an ISBN obtained from the National Book Authority. We hence consider Al-Azhar’s act as an infringement on the law and freedom of thought, creativity and publishing rights. We call on intellectuals and media workers to support us in the face of this brutal religious authority," Khalil wrote in his Facebook page.
The MEFF called on journalists and media professionals to attend a press conference on Monday, September 28, at 7 p.m. at the forum's headquarters at 45 Cleopatra Street, Heliopolis.