Threatened with death, Egyptian comedian is warned not to poke fun at Muslim clerics

Adel Imam, left, and Muslim televangelist Khalid Al Guindy

EGYPT’S top comedian, Adel Imam – widely known across the Arab world as The Leader – has upset “a celebrated” Muslim preacher, who has accused him of insulting Muslim clerics in his movies.

According to this report, Khalid Al Guindy, a prominent Muslim televangelist said on Azhari, a private religious TV station:

Imam mocks preachers, including me. I have asked Imam more than once to stop making fun of Islamic figures, but to no avail.

The posturing ninny added:

He casts Muslims in an unfavourable light by portraying the Muslims wearing the jallabia (flowing garments) and sporting beards as terrorists. He is a mere actor, who calls himself a leader.

Earlier this year, a fatwa – calling for the comedian’s assassination – was issued in Algeria after Imam had dared to criticise the Palestinian group Hamas.

Ahmad Al Najmi, writing in the pro-government magazine Al Musawwar last week, said:

What strikes attention is that attacks against Adel Imam have picked up pace. Less than a year after the death fatwa against Imam, Khalid Al Guindy tries to undermine Imam’s popularity.

According to Al Najmi, Imam, now in his 60s, is targeted by terrorists and corrupt entrepreneurs “for unmasking them on the screen”.

Meanwhile, we learn that Saudi journalists, Nadine Al Bdair, and Magdy Al Galad, have been summoned for questioning in Egypt following the publication of  a “blasphemous” article published recently in the Egyptian daily Al Masry Al Youm. Galad is editor-in-chief of the newspaper.

In the article Bdair called for a new edict that would permit a woman to marry four men. In her view, if men and women are equals, they should be given the same privileges, but according to this report, many Muslims expressed outrage over the article.

Public Prosecutor, Abdul Majeed Mahmoud, ordered the prosecutor of south Cairo to investigate blasphemy charges against the two.

Prosecution lawyer Khalid Fouad Hafez said that he had been waiting for two weeks for the Public Prosecutor to hear the case. Since the case was filed, Nadine has been out of the public eye, but a source from Al Hurra TV, her former employer, says she might be in Beirut.