“Alaa El Aswany is being sued by the public prosecutor-general military for “insulting the president (Abdel Fattah al-Sisi), the armed forces and the judicial institutions of the egyptians,” said the publishing house Actes Sud in a press release. “The charges against Alaa El Aswany is based on his columns published in Deutsche Welle Arabic ( DW ) and his last novel, I ran to the Nile , which recounts the events of the 2011 revolution,” said the editor.

” READ ALSO – Alaa El Aswany: “A good novel, this is revolutionary!”

“My only crime is being a writer, I am expressing my opinion and criticism and all those who deserve it, even if it is Adbel Fattah Al-Sissi himself”

Alaa El Aswany

“Yes, I am accused in a military affair,” wrote the chronicler international on Tuesday in an article published in Arabic on DW . “Two days ago, I learned that I had been brought before a military court for insult against the head of State and inciting against the regime because of my last novel and articles that I write here (on DW)”, he continued. “My only crime is being a writer, I am expressing my opinion and criticism and all those who deserve it, even if it is Adbel Fattah Al-Sissi himself”, he added.

The egyptian authorities have not publicly announced the initiation of a prosecution against the writer. But, according to judicial sources and an NGO for the defense of freedom of expression, of complaints have been filed before the justice.

” READ ALSO: Egypt: Sisi warns of disputes

Born in 1957, Alaa El Aswany is one of the most famous writers in the arab world. His first novel, The Yacoubian building , published in 2006, has become a real publishing phenomenon international. Novelist, short-story writer, essayist, his work has been translated into thirty languages and has received a dozen literary awards.

Columnist committed, he is fiercely defending the values of democracy in many articles in the egyptian press and international. It is one of the founding members of the opposition movement “Kifaya” (“enough”). In 2011, he took an active part in the arab Spring and took part in the movement of Tahrir square. This experience inspired his novel I ran to the Nile , published in French last year and sold nearly 30,000 copies but forbidden, according to the writer, in all arab countries except Tunisia, Morocco and Lebanon. Alaa El Aswany today lives in the United States, where he teaches literature.

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