Lawyers in Egypt Call for Arabian Nights to Be Banned
THE TELEGRAPH: A group of Islamist lawyers in Egypt has called for the book Arabian Nights to be banned because they believe it is obscene.

Chinese tenor Xin Wang performs during a rehearsal of the opera Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, written by Nino Rota, at a theatre in Colmar, France. Photo: The Telegraph
The literary classic, which features characters such as Sinbad the Sailor, Aladdin and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, was described by the group as a call to "vice and sin".

Known in the original Arabic as One Thousand And One Nights, the collection of folk tales and short stories was first published in medieval times.

But a recent republication triggered controversy and calls to ban the new version on the basis of depiction of sexuality and use of offensive language, according to Al Arabiya.

"I was shocked at the offensive phrases it contains," said Ayman Abdul-Hakim, member of Lawyers without Shackles, the non-governmental group that filed a complaint with Egypt's Prosecutor General calling for the withdrawal of the new edition from the market and for banning the book altogether.

Mr Abdul-Hakim said the book was "a waste of public money" and that several references to sex in the book and were "calls to sin". >>> | Friday, May 07, 2010