Ahmed Naji, 30, is a novelist and wide-ranging essayist. He is part of a group (a movement, maybe) of young artists who work across art forms and borders and are producing the most dynamic and innovative art coming out of Egypt. But, today, Naji is on day 86 of a two-year prison sentence.
The ostensible cause of his jailing is a striking graphic novel, The Use of Life, produced in collaboration with the artist Ayman Zorkani. It is a subtle exploration of the ennui of life in a dystopian city and shows a tremendous knowledge of the history and architecture of Cairo. It is also clearly rooted in classical Arabic literary idiom – including the classics’ straightforward descriptions of body parts and their uses.
Because the publisher – Dar al-Tanweer – is Lebanese, the book (which was published in November 2014) was scrutinised by Egypt’s official censors – and passed. But a year later, when an extract was published in the literary weekly, Akhbar al-Adab, a “citizen” who read it was so upset that he “suffered palpitations” and sued.
In January 2016 a judge acquitted Naji of offending public morality. The judge’s published reasoning is an exemplary legal discussion of art, society and the constitution. Within days, though, the public prosecutor had appealed the acquittal. On 6 February Naji insisted on attending his trial personally. The judge pronounced him guilty of “injuring public modesty” and sentenced him to two years. He was detained on the spot.
There was a flurry of solidarity in Egypt and the Arab world. Over 600 Egyptian authors signed a statement in Naji’s support; it also speaks of their fear for Egypt’s future “in the shadow of a regime that deals with freedoms with ignorant nonchalance, that privileges a discourse of oppression, that mouths terms like ‘morality’ while emptying them – by its actions – of all meaning, that violates the constitution every day.” This week 120 writers and artists from across the world have signed PEN America’s letter of support.
The regime continues to hold, detain and disappear people. The latest, four days ago, were the “Street-Kids”: five young men who made videos – with a selfie stick – mocking the system.
“The zombies” has become one of the favoured tropes to describe the system. In a December 2015 article, Naji enumerated “the zombie general, the zombie sheikh, the zombie president, the zombie businessman, the zombie ruling party, the zombie opposition, the zombie moderate Islam and the zombie extremist Islam”. The zombie cannot tolerate life. Naji’s crime is not so much what he has written; it is more that he is alive.