Author: Emma Jilavian

IN OCTOBER CITY COUNCIL OF EDINBURGH TO VIEW ISSUE OF RECOGNITION OF
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN OTTOMAN TURKEY
YEREVAN, AUGUST 18. ARMINFO. Mayor of Scotland’s capital Donald
Anderson plans to include the issue on the recognition of Armenian
Genocide in the agenda of the sittings of the city Council in Oct,
2005. “I got acquainted with the problem of the recognition of the
Genocide three years ago, when the Memory Day of victims of genocides
was commemorated, and Armenian Genocide of the beginning of the 20th
century was a part of that”, Anderson informed to radio Liberty. Then
a seminar was organized at the request oft he Armenian community
in Edinburgh, which covered the events of the beginning of the 20th
century in Ottoman Turkey. During the seminar the participants passe
a resolution to call on the authorities of Scotland to recognize
Armenian Genocide.
The Turkish embassy in Great Britain, as well as representatives of
the Turkish community in Edinburgh expressed their concern on the
occasion of the statements of the mayor of Edinburgh. In response
Donald Anderson said that he had examined the historical document,
which don’t leave a doubt that a Genocide was perpetrated against
the Armenian community in Ottoman Turkey. Besides, the mayor called
on Turkey to revise its position regarding this problem. The Turkish
side required to give it an opportunity to hold its seminar. “We gave
a consent for holding such a seminar, but in the nearest future the
city Council of Edinburgh will discuss this issue”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

GROUP OF ITALIAN SCIENTISTS DEVELOPS PROGRAM-BID TO PROMOTE TOURISM
IN SHIRAK MARZ
YEREVAN, AUGUST 16, NOYAN TAPAN. A group of lecturers, post-graduate
students and students from Carlo Cataneo University (Italy), headed
by Prof. Dipak Pant have developed a program-bid for promoting
tourism in rural areas of Shirak marz. Prof. Pant stated at the
August 16 press conference that in the event of receiving the Armenian
government’s approval and funds being made available, the program will
be implemented in the next three years. The Italian scientist said they
had chosen Shirak marz for the reason that it is famous for its nature
and many cultural and historical monuments. In his opinion, Armenia
has prospects for its tourism development. The Italian scientists
conducted their studies in July and August with the financial
assistance of the Italian Foreign Ministry and the Armenian government.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanArmenian News Network
July 14 2005
ARMENIAN STUDENTS TO DO PRACTICAL WORK IN GERMANY
14.07.2005 03:45
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ 15 students of the State Engineering University of
Armenia (SEUA) will participate in practical trainings at the
Darmschtadt Technical University July 16-27. As the SEUA Public
Relations Department told .am edition of PanARMENIAN.Net, Electronic
Development in Armenia: Best Practice in Germany will be the topic of
the practical trainings. These are organized with the assistance of
the Intergovernmental Center for Technical Research and with the
financial support of the DAAD. A number of electronic management and
electronic business trainings and discussions are planned to be held
in the course of the stay. The Armenian students are expected to
visit a number of organizations working in the field. They will be
accompanied by German students, who were invited to SEUA last year.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr. Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:
PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon
Armenian version:
HIS HOLINESS ARAM I RECEIVES THE BOARD
OF TRUSTEES OF HAIGAZIAN UNIVERSITY
His Holiness Aram I received the Board of Trustees of Haigazian University
in the Veharan on June 29. The delegation included all the members of the
board from Lebanon and the United States.
The president of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches of the
Middle East, Rev. Meguerditch Karageozian, the president of Haigazian
University, Dr. Paul Haidostian, the president of the Evangelical
Association of America, as well as other officials from the Unites States
accompanied the Board of Trustees.
Dr. Haidostian introduced the guests to His Holiness and talked about the
50th anniversary of Haigazian University.
His Holiness Aram I welcomed the guests and highlighted his long-standing
good relations and cooperation with both Haigazian University and the
Theological College of Near East, first as a student and then as a lecturer.
His Holiness warmly greeted his former professors among the attendants and
emphasized the long-standing cooperation between the Catholicosate of
Cilicia and the Armenian Evangelical community, particularly in the national
and educational spheres.
Speaking about the 50th anniversary of Haigazian University, His Holiness
praised the services of the university not only for the Armenian community
of Lebanon, but also for Lebanon in general.
“The Armenians of Lebanon should be proud because of Haigazian, because
Haigazian is the tangible expression of our commitment to Lebanon and
inter-confessional coexistence, as well as our commitment to culture and
education,” said His Holiness.
His Holiness then answered a few questions by the guests about Lebanon’s
situation, issues related to the ecumenical movement and his upcoming
official visit to the United States.
##
View picture here:
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Zaman Online, Turkey
June 26 2005
The Indictment Concerning Swiss Prosecutor Annulled
By Anadolu News Agency (aa)
Published: Sunday 26, 2005
zaman.com
The Ankara Office of Chief Public Prosecutor has annulled the
indictment concerning the Swiss Prosecutor who had initiated an
inquiry about the President of Turkish Historical Society (TTK) Yusuf
Halacoglu in relation with his statements on allegations concerning
the alleged Armenian Genocide.
The process concerning the indictment brought by The President of The
Society of the Supremacy of Law, Erdem Akyuz, concerning Swiss
Prosecutor Andrej Gnehm has concluded. The indictment has been
evaluated and nullified by Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor Abdullah
Ayhan San. After touching upon the demands in the petition of Akyuz
the text of the verdict indicated in what cases a foreigner could be
indicted for actions he committed on foreign soil, and determined
that the act of the Swiss Prosecutor did not fall under any of the
categories of crime indicated in the Turkish Penal Code. The verdict
read, “In so far as to initiate an inquiry concerning an
international political affair is as groundless as the act of the
indicted prosecutor, it is not deemed necessary to seek the
ascertainment of the allegations.”
Prosecutor Gnehm had launched an inquiry concerning Halacoglu on the
grounds that he had denied the alleged Armenian Genocide in a speech
he delivered in Switzerland. Akyuz said, the verdict established the
unlawfulness of the act of the Swiss Prosecutor.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

ACCORDING TO LEVON MKRTCHIAN, NA SPECIAL SESSION TO BE HELD BEFORE
PARLIAMENT’S SUMMER VACATION
YEREVAN, JUNE 21, NOYAN TAPAN. RA National Assembly’s special session
that should have been convened on June 21 on the government’s
initiative, was postponed because of technical reasons. Levon
Mkrtchian, Head of the NA ARF faction, informed Noyan Tapan’s
correspondent about this. He mentioned that they had a great problem
connected with provision of quorum as a large parliamentary delegation
left for Strasbourg to participate in the PACE plenary session. To
recap, the issue concerning the process of constitutional reforms in
Armenia was also put on the session’s agenda. Levon Mkrtchian informed
that after the delegation’s return the coalition will again touch upon
the issue of holding a special session. He found it difficult to
mention a concrete term saying that the session will be held before
the beginning of parliament’s summer vacation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Critics find fault with updated rule of law
by Nicholas Birch in Istanbul
South China Morning Post
June 2, 2005
Turkey’s first new criminal code in nearly 80 years went into effect
yesterday in what Ankara hopes will be a major step towards opening
accession proceedings with the European Union in October.
Legal experts see the document as an improvement on its 1926
predecessor, which was heavily indebted to 19th century Italian laws.
Turkish women’s rights activists have expressed overall satisfaction
with new articles criminalising sexual harassment, virginity tests
and rape within marriage.
The code also drops articles prescribing shorter sentences for
so-called honour killings. Every year, scores, if not hundreds,
of Turkish women are murdered by their families for transgressing
traditional codes of behaviour.
In line with their new policy of zero tolerance, MPs have also
increased the maximum penalty for torture from eight to 12 years.
But as Amnesty International points out, time limits on torture cases,
though extended, still stand. Facilitated by a notoriously inefficient
judicial system, the deliberate delaying of trials until they are
dropped is a common tactic.
The new criminal code has been dogged by controversy since last autumn,
when plans to criminalise adultery were dropped amid an international
outcry.
In recent days, government efforts to reduce penalties for illegal
religious courses have sparked a furious debate in Turkey, fiercely
attached to its secular identity.
The controversy has served only to mask far more serious shortcomings
in articles dealing with freedom of expression.
Though plans envisaging higher sentences for “crimes” committed
through the press were dropped last week, journalists still face
prison sentences for reporting on anything from ongoing criminal
investigations to “insult”.
Not only has a notorious article from the former code criminalising
acts that “belittle” state institutions been transferred almost
verbatim into today’s version, critics say, entirely new restrictions
have been added.
Foremost is article 305, which prescribes up to 10 years’ prison for
Turks or foreigners acting “against the fundamental national interest”,
a vague term that could include advocating the withdrawal of Turkish
troops from Cyprus or describing 1915 Armenian massacres as “genocide”.
Laws like this, says lawyer Yusuf Caglayan, “open the door to decisions
that prove not the citizen’s guilt, but the impossibility of proving
his innocence”.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Intermediaries call for ‘compromise’ amid frequent shootings
AzerNews
1-7 June 05
French co-chair of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group has denied Armenia’s
responsibility for frequent ceasefire breaches on the frontline. “Do
you think the ceasefire is violated only by Armenia? You are wrong”,
Bernard Fassier told a news conference on Friday following talks on
the Upper Garabagh conflict held by the MG co-chairs in Baku.
Fassier said that the persistent ceasefire violations jeopardize peace
talks and the conflicting sides should ‘prepare their countries for
compromises instead of making harsh statements’.
Armenia has violated ceasefire on a daily basis over the past few
months, which resulted in killing and wounding dozens of military
men on both sides.
Fassier said France is confident that there is extensive potential
for a peaceful conflict resolution, but ‘time is scarce and should
not be wasted’.
The co-chair mentioned that he was an officer in the French army for
25 years prior to becoming a diplomat, which played an important role
in terms of his present activity. “War is the worst way out”, he said,
emphasizing that France supports a peaceful conflict resolution.
Fassier dismissed allegations on the lack of activity by the mediators.
“The co-chairs can only provide advice and will not solve the problem
instead of the conflicting sides. Both countries believe that the
Minsk Group is to blame if nothing happens. But progress has not been
achieved so far because the sides have not been ready for this.”
Fassier said, however, that the co-chairs now see ‘the willingness
of the sides to solve the problem’.
Fassier said that the Warsaw meeting of the Azeri and Armenian
Presidents on May 15 was important, positive and constructive. The
intensifying talks were the key indication that the meeting was
successful, he said.
The co-chairs are to meet with Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanian in Yerevan early in June, Fassier said.
“We are holding these meetings to outline our work in the coming
months and weeks.”
The co-chair said that a joint meeting of the MG co-chairs with the
Azeri and Armenian ministers will be held in mid-June and the two
have already provided their consent for this.
The intermediaries will hold talks in Baku and Yerevan again in July,
and visit the conflict zone.
Fassier emphasized that the parties are not discussing a specific
document. The talks are focusing on the withdrawal of Armenian
troops from the districts around Upper Garabagh and the status of the
region. The co-chair declined to comment on whether or not the parties
have reached pivotal agreements on these issues but said that they
‘have already started working on details’.
The co-chair also said that the parties realize the need for re-opening
Armenia’s borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Fassier said that the co-chairs’ meeting with President Aliyev,
which was not originally scheduled, took place on the initiative of
the Azerbaijani President. The gist of the meeting was not disclosed.
‘Support’ The international community supports settlement of the
Upper Garabagh conflict within Azerbaijan’s territorial integrity,
Fassier said.
“No country has de-facto recognized the independence of Upper Garabagh
and it should be that way”, the French co-chair said in a meeting
with Azeri Defense Minister Safar Abiyev on Thursday.
“I have seen the occupied Azerbaijani land firsthand and became
convinced that we need to find a way out of this soon.”
Minister Abiyev said peace talks that have lasted for over 10 years
yielded no results so far. If the negotiations turn out fruitless,
Azerbaijan will be compelled ‘to resort to other means to liberate
its territories from under occupation’, he said.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Karabakh to free Azeri POWs soon – Russian mediator
Arminfo
3 May 05
Yerevan, 3 May: The [three] Azerbaijani POWs can be released in
the near future. The Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group,
which deals with a negotiated settlement of the Nagornyy Karabakh
conflict, Yuriy Merzlyakov, has told our correspondent that the
personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office is dealing
with this issue in person.
“According to him, an agreement on exchanging prisoners may be reached
in the near future,” Merzlyakov said.
The three Azerbaijani soldiers – Ruslan Bakirov, Xayal Abdullayev
and Hikmat Tagiyev – have been taken hostage by the Karabakh
side. Stepanakert explains this by the need for an investigation.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Egypt Today, Egypt
May 1 2005
Fact or Fiction
Alaa El-Aswany thought he had it made when his Omaret Yacoubian
rocketed to the top of the Arab world’s bestseller list. But as a
star-studded cast wrapped up the film adaptation of the
dentist-turned-novelist’s book last month, residents of the real-life
building in which the story is set filed libel suits against the
author and production company, saying Omaret Yacoubian is a thinly
veiled roman à clef. Publisher, producer, screenwriter and author all
deny the charges.Who’s right? That’s the multi-million-pound question
As he flipped through the pages of Sawt El-Umma last December, Adel
Khela was drawn to a story in the independent Cairo weekly about a
new movie then in production. Its title, Omaret Yacoubian (The
Yacoubian Building), just happened to share the name of the storied
Downtown Cairo building that was home to a tailor shop his late
father, Malak Khela, had willed to Adel and Adel’s brothers.
Omaret Yacoubian, the newspaper reported, wasn’t just another
Egyptian movie: It was the biggest-budget production in the history
of the nation’s film industry, featuring an all-star cast that was
working day and night to bring to life the the 2002 runaway
bestseller of the same name by dentist-turned-novelist Alaa
El-Aswany.
Feature
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More than 200 years after they arrive in Egypt with Nelsons#…
Out of Focus
Egypt was once a top center for astronomical research, but a…

And who was El-Aswany? None other than his late father’s one-time
neighbor and archenemy, as Adel sees it the same El-Aswany who Sawt
El-Umma reported had made a scheming tailor named Malak and his
brother Ebskheron central figures in his book. Stunned by what he
says were several similarities between the movie’s Malak Khela and
his own father, Adel Khela rushed out to buy the novel.
That, he says, is when surprise turned to rage.
`Unfortunately, I realized that [the novel] has been out since 2002 I
got upset when I realized that I have stayed unaware of this insult
for three years. I found the novel attributed shameful deeds to
Malak,’ says Khela, who with his brother Yasser still makes
custom-tailored shirts in his father’s shop in the Yacoubian
Building.
`How could it be fiction? He [El-Aswany] mentioned my father’s name,
his vocation, his place of work and his brother’s name? Also, Khela’s
physical description [in the novel] is almost identical to my
father’s so he [El-Aswany] means him [Malak Khela],’ Adel Khela says.

Ashraf Talaat
El-Aswany, the author

In Omaret Yacoubian, El-Aswany tackles a nest of thorny issues
including Islamist extremism, poverty, corruption and homosexuality
through the lens of people living in a real Downtown building. As
Sawt El-Umma noted in its report last December, the novel features an
opportunist shirtmaker named Malak Khela, who rents a room on the
building’s roof and turns it into a workshop. Khela is more than a
struggling entrepreneur, though: El-Aswany’s character is also deep
into currency and liquor smuggling.
An Egyptian-Armenian business leader named Nichan Yacoubian built the
real nine-story building on 958 square meters of prime real estate on
Talaat Harb Street in the 1930s. His son, Decran Yacoubian, who has
owned the facility since Yacoubian died in the 1940s, currently lives
in Europe, according to Fikry Abdel Malek, the landlord’s agent since
1961 (more on him in a moment he’s suing, too).
After learning of what they saw was their father’s role in the book,
Adel Khela and his brothers filed a civil libel suit against
El-Aswany, claiming the author defamed their father in the book to
avenge what they allege was an old lawsuit the author lost to the
tailor. Their demands: LE 2 million in damages.
El-Aswany’s dental clinic shared an apartment on the first floor of
the Yacoubian building with Khela until the author moved his clinic
to a new office in Garden City in the 1990s.
According to the brothers Khela, El-Aswany laid hold of the
apartment’s entrance hall, which was then a public space for all
lodgers in the same unit, by putting up an allegedly `illegal’ wood
partition. Ultimately, their father filed a suit against the dentist
and won it in a Court of First Instance ruling in the early 1990s,
according to legal documents in their possession.

Omar Mohsen
Khela, the plaintiff

El-Aswany dismisses the allegations, stressing that his work is
purely fictional except for the name of the building.
`It is a sham to talk about this; the issue is very primitive,’ says
El-Aswany. `It is fiction. The bloc has 500 residents we are speaking
of four to five generations that resided in this building. Thus, we
have thousands of names and vocations that might have existed in the
bloc. When I was still working in the building, there was more than
one person named Malak, and there was even another Malak who used to
sew shirts in the same bloc.
`As a matter of principle, I am not required to make any
clarification because the novel is fictional,’ he says. `There are
four types of literary works: journalistic pieces, documentaries,
autobiographies and fictional novels. For the first three types, the
author is held accountable for the characters he portrays; however,
in the case of fiction he is not, so I don’t have to discuss whether
I meant their father or not.’
El-Aswany maintains that the similarity of names between his novel
and reality is coincidental. `Malak is a beautiful name. The
character is named Malak [angel in Arabic] and his deeds have nothing
to do with angels so it [the contradiction] is comic and I could not
miss this name as a novelist,’ says El-Aswany.
The author admits he had a legal dispute with the late Khela, but
claims that he won on appeal.

Omar Mohsen
Abdel Malek, the landlord’s agent

`Afterwards, their father and I stayed on good terms for five years
until he passed away,’ says El-Aswany. Khela’s sons refute
El-Aswany’s account, however, insisting that they were on bad terms
until El-Aswany left the building.
Among the excerpts they take from the novel to substantiate their
claim is an anecdote the author recounts about a story in a leading
American newspaper praising Khela’s talents. In the novel,
El-Aswany’s Khela fakes the story and hangs it on the wall of his
office to deceive his clients.
The Khela brothers believe it is concrete evidence that El-Aswany
meant to defame their father, given the fact that a similar article
was published about their father in the New York Times and
republished in Egypt’s Al-Mussawer magazine in the 1970s. The
clipping is framed and posted in Khela’s office.
El-Aswany dismisses the claim as `nonsense,’ denying that he ever saw
this clipping.
According to Mohamed El-Gamal, a former president of Majlis Al-Dawla
(the State Council, the nation’s top administrative judicial court,
which is also required to offer comment on certain forms of
legislation), authors of fictional works are not exempt from
prosecution for libel. El-Gamal says novels fall under the category
of public media, to which libel and slander laws are applicable, as
they circulate among `an unlimited number of people.’
The same thing applies to movies, he adds.
`If the person’s essential characteristics, such as his physical
look, his name, his vocation and the names of his relatives are
mentioned in a way that would make them identical to what exist in
reality, this would be a definite designation of the [real] person,’
explains El-Gamal.
`If the [plaintiffs’] claims are proven true in a sense that the
designation of their father is incontestable, this could mean that a
crime [of libel] had been committed against them,’ he adds.
In the meantime, El-Aswany’s litigants have filed another suit
against the movie’s production team as well as Minister of Culture
Farouk Hosni, demanding the suspension of shooting and the revocation
of the movie’s license.
Omaret, which stars Adel Imam, Nour El-Sherif and Youssra in lead
roles, is being shot on a $3 million budget. The film is being
produced by Good News, owned by media tycoon Emad Abeeb; Marwan Hamed
is directing from a script penned by Waheed Hamed, his renowned
screenwriter father.
While Khela insists he was not aware of the novel before reading
about the movie, El-Aswany believes the plaintiffs are driven by a
desire to blackmail the movie’s team; otherwise, he says, they should
have filed suit right after the book was published in 2002.
`I think that when the movie’s budget was disclosed, [the plaintiffs]
were tempted to go after some money because the novel has been out
for three years,’ El-Aswany says in a confident tone. `Everyone has
been talking about this novel for three years and more than 180
[reviews and articles] on the work have been published. And yet you
live in the same building the novel talks about and you do not
consider reading it? You should do it at least out of curiosity,’
El-Aswany suggests.
The legal maneuverings don’t end there, though: Fikry Abdel Malak,
the lawyer who has served as the building-owner’s agent since 1961,
has levelled accusations against El-Aswany similar to those of the
Khela brothers in a suit he filed last month against both El-Aswany
and the publishing house reprinting the novel.
Abdel Malak is suing on his own and the owner’s behalf for LE 2
million, the same sum Adel Khela and his brother are demanding.
In the novel, the building agent has the first name of his real
counterpart, but the character is an abusive, dishonest drunk. Abdel
Malek believes El-Aswany was referring to him deliberately.
`The only fictional element in the novel is the lodgers’ attributes.
It is a libel made against these people [The author] indicated me by
mentioning my vocation as a lawyer and the building’s agent. There is
nobody else in Egypt named Fikry, working as a lawyer and serving as
the building’s agent,’ says Abdel Malek.
Instead of filing an additional suit against the filmmakers, Abdel
Malek says he preferred to `send warnings’ notifying the producer and
screenwriter that the novel allegedly defames real characters and
asking them to suspend shooting. Should his demands not be met, he
says, he will file suit against the movie after it comes out.
Abdel Malak has also written to the Ministry of Culture demanding
that the film be banned.
Screenwriter Waheed Hamed is as nonplussed by the suits as is
El-Aswany, calling the charges `invalid’ and insisting no third party
has a legal right to demand shooting be suspended.
`You cannot judge a work before it is out. Secondly, they say the
work inflicts injury upon their father. It is not up to them to
decide whether this is the case or not it’s the court that decides
for the court,’ says Hamed, referring to the allegations made by
Khela’s sons.
`The [film’s] scenario has nothing to do with the novel. It takes the
spirit and the events of the novel. Finally, I have no one named
Malak Khela in the movie,’ adds Hamed, explaining that Khela was one
of the names he changed in his script before the suit. `The
sceenwriter is absolutely free to change names, and I changed these.
They did not appeal to me and I found them hard to pronounce and
retain,’ says Hamed, who explains he changed `Malak Khela’ to `Malak
Akhnoukh Armenios’ and `Abeskharon’ (Malak’s brother) to `Phanos.’
Those changes fall short of the plaintiffs’ demands; they insist that
the name Malak and his vocation be wiped out of the movie. At press
time, most of the movie’s scenes had already been shot, according to
Hamed, who is adamant about suing the plaintiffs for having defamed
him.
`They brought an unjust accusation against me and damaged my
reputation. How can you bring accusations against me before you see
my work?’ Hamed growls.
But the plaintiffs haven’t stopped with characters they say are based
on themselves: Both Abdel Malek and Khela’s sons claim that Zaki
El-Desouki, one of El-Aswany’s personages, was a real character who
lived in the building, sharing the same apartment as El-Aswany and
Khela.
El-Aswany tackles his adversaries with disarming sarcasm. `Where is
this real character named Zaki El-Dessouki? Where are his heirs? Why
did not they file a suit, too? Am I supposed to knock on everybody’s
door when I write a novel to make it clear that I do not mean him? Or
do I have to choose names that nobody uses?’ El-Aswany asks with
exasperation.
`I am loyal to literature and no matter what happens, my mission is
to make sure literature is convincing and I do not mean to harm
anybody,’ he adds.
Not quite finished, lawyer Abdel Malek drops another bombshell: (he
claims) Hatem, a character portrayed in the novel as a homosexual
journalist, is also a real person who lived in the building. He adds
that he is still in touch with the real Hatem, but he feels
embarrassed to inform him of the `infamous deeds’ the novelist
attributes to him.
Abdel Malek claims that the novel has ruined the reputation of the
seventy-year-old building.
`People started to approach the building and utter obscene words. It
is enough to say that some ask the concierge whether that is the
homosexuals’ building or not,’ says Abdel Malek, adding that his
reputation as a lawyer was damaged, too. `My work has been severely
affected by the novel. How can clients trust me if I am featured as a
drunk lawyer? I definitely lost clients and the reputation I earned.’
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs deny El-Aswany and Hamed’s charges that
they are profiteers trying to make a quick profit through blackmail.
`If this allegation were true, I would not have sent a warning to the
movie’s team. I would have waited until they show the movie so the
owner and I would be definitely entitled to reparations. This means
that I have no intention to blackmail the team for the sake of
earning money,’ says Abdel Malek.
Adel Adeeb, chairman of the film’s production company, declined to
comment on the matter, saying neither he nor the company’s lawyer
could speak about lawsuits currently before the courts.
Gamal El-Ghitani, editor in chief of Akhbar Al-Adab (Literature
News), explains that novelists are free to use real names for
characters provided that they do not mention details that would be
indicative of real people. However, he still presumes the good faith
of the author and dismissed the suit as an `exceptional measure taken
against literature. Similarities between reality and literary works
are conceivable, but I am against suing or confiscating such works,’
he says.
El-Ghitani is a staunch defender of freedom of speech, saying
literature has lately been assaulted for a variety of reasons: `We
are living in an abnormal atmosphere where literature is targeted by
fundamentalist groups, the government itself and society, which has
been tightening its censoring grip over literature. Today, Egypt is
intolerant of the same things it used to accept in the 1920s.’
At least El-Aswany can take heart in the fact that he’s in good
company: Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz’s Al-Sarab (The Mirage, 1948)
featured, among other characters, a sexually impotent man who lived
in Abasseyya. A resident of the area was so certain the author was
referring to him that he hatched a plot to assassinate Mahfouz.
No one’s threatening El-Aswany with that. Yet.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress