Fatima Naoot

Fatima Naoot ( فاطمه ناعوت ) (born September 18, 1964) is an Egyptian writer and poet. In January 2016, the Egyptian government sentenced Naoot to jail for 3 years after she wrote on Facebook about killing sheep for the Islamic feast Eladha (Sacrifice)in which Muslims slaughter sheep according to Islamic religion

Work

Naoot was a candidate for the Egyptian parliament.

Naoot wrote several books of poetry and a book of poetry analysis. She also translated collections of poems from English into Arabic.

Insulting religion

Fatima Naoot always seeks for freedom without any authority even if this authority will belong to any religion. In October she published a post on Facebook was describing "the Eid Al-Adha’s tradition of slaughtering sheep as the “greatest massacre committed by human beings.” Then one candidate from parliament said that "Her aim is to insult Islam". Thus she wrote through Ahram Online report "that humans justified their lust for killing and enjoying the smell of cooking game by attempting to bestow a divine meaning to their actions.”

Because of the law of 1982 which stated that there is from six months to five years and fines of LE500 to LE1000 for anyone who uses religion to promote, through speech, writing, or any other medium, extremist ideas with the aim of spreading discord or to belittle one of the monotheistic religions or their different sects, or to harm national unity. she was put in jail for 3 years and fined 20.000 LE. She said in front of the court that "she did not aim to insult Islam, but she just explained her point of view. Naoot said through Middle east online "I’m not sad about the sentencing as I don’t care about going to jail. I’m sad that the efforts of reformists have been wasted”.

THE ARAB NETWORK FOR HUMAN RIGHTS INFORMATION issued a statement saying "“the recent surge in the prosecution of opinion makers comes in conjunction with a fierce security campaign launched by security bodies against freedom of opinion and expression, with the aim of narrowing the overall climate of freedom of opinion and expression. Such a matter, in turn, makes Egypt one of the most Arab countries that show hostility to freedom of expression as well as press freedom, especially that about 59 journalists have remained in prison so far.” Fatma is not a political figure, she is an Egyptian writer, poet, translator and journalist who always says her point of view.

Other websites

• Fatima Naoot (Fāṭimah Nāʻūt) on WorldCat