Egypt’s War on Atheism
By MONA ELTAHAWY
CAIRO — It took one session on Jan. 10 for a court ∈ the Nile Δ province of Beheira to sentence Karim al-Banna, a 21-year-old student, to three years ∈ prison for saying on Facebook that he was an atheist. The student’s lawyer complained that he was denied the \right even to present a defense, but an equally chilling aspect of Mr. Banna’s case is that his father testified against him.
Also telling is that Mr. Banna was originally arrested, ∈November, when he went to the police to complain that his neighbors were harassing him. This was after his name had appeared ∈a local newspaper on a list of known atheists. Instead of protecting him, the police accused him of insulting Islam.
Such tag teams of family, media and state are not uncommon ∈ cases against atheists. Because atheism itself is not illegal ∈Egypt, charges are laid under laws against blasphemy or contempt for religion. Similar charges have been used for political purposes against Egypt’s Christian minority.
It is no surprise that Mr. Banna’s conviction occurred on the watch of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the former army general who led the ouster of Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood to become president. Regardless of which way the seesaw of power ∈Egypt tips — toward the Islamists or toward the military — it is always a heterosexual, conservative Muslim man who heads the moral hierarchy. The further from that identity you are, the more vulnerable you are.
Nowhere is this morality power play exercised more vehemently than ∈ curbing perceived religious and sex crimes. Hence Egypt’s witch hunt against gay men. Rights activists say that 2014 was the worst year ∈a decade for gay people ∈Egypt, with at least 150 men arrested or put on trial. Same-sex relationships are not illegal, but gay men are targeted under “debauchery” laws.
In a speech this month honoring the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, Mr. Sisi called on Muslim leaders ∈Egypt to start a “religious revolution” to counter the jihadist message of the Islamic State. He also sent his foreign minister to the solidarity march after the attacks ∈Paris at the office of the magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket.
The contradiction ∈Mr. Sisi’s aim of keeping the heterosexual, conservative Muslim man at the top of Egypt’s moral hierarchy is glaring. You can’t trump the Islamists ∈ their piety and lead a campaign against minorities like atheists and gay men even as you condemn extremist violence and show solidarity for free speech and free thinking.
Despite the clampdown, atheists are openly challenging such hypocrisy. Social media has allowed those who “deviate” from the authoritarian template to find one another and express themselves ∈ ways that the regime, its men of religion and its media otherwise deny them.
(adapted from nytimes.com, January 27th , 2015 )
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