A trial followed in November 2015 in which it was claimed that Naji's work "offended public morals" and was "spreading licentiousness." He was declared innocent by the court earlier this year. (Representational Image)
"What do young people in their twenties do in Cairo?" asks Bassam, the narrator of Egyptian writer Ahmed Naji's novel "The Use of Life."
In the novel the characters smoke cannabis, have sex and wander the city.
In real life, the 30-year-old author of this novel with sci-fi elements is now behind bars.
In August 2014, Akhbar al-Adab (News of Literature), an Egyptian literary magazine affiliated with government-owned al-Akhbar newspaper, published an excerpt from the sixth chapter of Naji's novel.
It depicts a surreal drug-fueled party and ends with the narrator having sex with an older woman.
The book, which is printed in Beirut, had been approved by Egyptian censors in a process typical for all imported books. But after the excerpt was published, one reader, Hani Tawfik, filed a lawsuit complaining to the public prosecutor that the excerpt caused his "blood pressure to fall" and made him physically ill.
A trial followed in November 2015 in which it was claimed that Naji's work "offended public morals" and was "spreading licentiousness." He was declared innocent by the court earlier this year.
The public prosecutor however reopened the case and today an appeals court sentenced Naji to two years in prison and fined the magazine's editor, Tarek el-Taher, 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,277). It's the maximum penalty for a misdemeanor of this kind.
"I'm surprised," said Mahmoud Othman, Naji's lawyer. "The prosecution used the exact same argument in the initial trial and yet he was declared guilty. This is unconstitutional. Clause 67 of the constitution protects all artists from imprisonment. We intend to appeal."
This is not the first time an Egyptian author has been under fire for his work. In 2013, writer Karam Saber was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of "contempt for religion." In 2008, comic book writer Magdy el-Shafee was fined and had his graphic novel "Metro" banned on charges similar to those against Naji. It was republished in 2012.
Gamal Eid, director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, a prominent Egyptian nongovernmental organization, said that the latest wave of repressive measures is "the worst I've seen in 30 years." Many other local human rights organizations and public figures joined him in their condemnation of the sentence on social media.
Naji is now waiting to be transported to prison to serve out his sentence.
© 2016 The Washington Post
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