Egyptian comedy icon Adel Imam under jail threat!

 

Legendary Adel Imam represented comedy at its purist form in the Egyptian cinema for over 40 years. Imam was not just a comedian but a drama actor who captured the hearts and minds of Egyptians as well the Arabs for decades. He represented in my many cases the hero or the anti-hero who breaks the rules of bureaucracy and ridiculous traditions in his society.
Imam rose to stardom in the early 1970’s as a superstar for the new wave of Egyptian comedies of that era. Mentored by the legendary actor Fouad El Mohandes who is considered by some to be the greatest Egyptian comedian of all time, Imam didn’t just follow the path of his mentor but his impeccable talent created a comedy school of his own. He portrayed the daily life of the average Egyptian man in most of his movies, plays, TV and Radio series. Egyptians would find Imam representing their daily struggles and life hurdles. The man was the biggest name in the industry in Egypt in 1980’s and 1990s and still retains that title till now despite the heavy competition from his generation and new generation stars.



Through his career Imam battled backwardness, terrorism and religious zealousness. He was the arch-rival of all the Islamists movements in Egypt and often portrayed them in a manner that is satirical and comical to draw attention of the populace to their divisive and sectarian rhetoric. Some of his movies reached international success like the 2006 “The Yacoubian Builiding” based on award winning novel by the same name written by Egyptian famous novelist Alaa El Aswany. The movie was set in 1990s after the first gulf war and describing the social rift and economic struggles between classes in Egypt after decades of the 1952 coup d’etat. These struggles are displayed in the portrayal of characters of different classes living in the same building situated in the heart of Cairo’s downtown. Yacoubian Building is considered by many as of his best masterpieces and received world wide acclaim and rewards.
As a payback to his continuous mocking and satire against the Islamists throughout the past decades, an ultra conservative Salafi lawyer from Alexandria sued Imam for what he deemed as anti-Islamic movies throughout Imam’s career. The weirdness and preposterousness of this claim is not new to the Salafi followers who try to witch-hunt many Egyptian artists, writers and poets, whom they claim to be anti Islamic and sue them for blasphemy and heresy. Unfortunately, some of these law suits find a hearing and a place in the judicial system that has been infiltrated recently by Islamists led by the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi groups.
The court has fined Adel Imam and sentenced him to 3 months in prison. Also, the same court rejected his appeal to drop the charges and sentence. This court ruling is considered to be one of the most outrageous infringements of freedom of expression in recent memory and set back to all the mottos and slogans of the 25th of January revolution.

Imam may have not been a great advocate of the Egyptian revolution and one can understand why now as the replacement of the old regime was nothing more than his old enemies the Islamists.  The man who is nick named as “El Zaeem” or the Leader represents a great importance to every Egyptian for he was among those who portrayed the hardships of their daily lives under previous regimes on silver screen and TV. Despite being accused of siding to the previous regime and being a friend of the ruling family of Mubarak, the man still represents an artistic and cinematic icon of his generation and generations to come.

Egyptian cinema is considered to be the Hollywood of the East with over 300 million viewers in the Arab world and outside. This cinema industry is one of the main reasons that gave Egypt its prominent cultural position in the Middle East and particularly the Arab world. Also it’s a reason that the Egyptian accent is widely understood in most Arab countries as well as the Egyptian tradition, culture and sightseeing’s thus giving a great boost to the tourism industry. In short, the Egyptian cinema is part of the Egyptian cultural prestige in the region and the entire world.

 

Egyptians, who are known by their excessive and blatant sense of humour only rivaled by Americans and Italians, will not stand idle to see their comedy and drama hero being jailed for giving them great years of joy and happiness. Hardly any Egyptian of any age or social status who lived in Egypt or abroad haven’t watched at least a dozen or more of his movies, plays and TV shows. The iconic star will always remain in the heart of people and will be supported by all the Freedom fighters in Egypt and the whole world against the dark forces of tyranny surfacing from the deep abyss of backwardness, ignorance and terrorism. 

Adel Imam’s case is a fight for freedom of expression that all patriotic Egyptians must stand their ground for or they will find themselves to be next in line accused of heresy and disdain towards religion. This is not a fight that Egyptians should take lightly but it’s a fight for survival. Art is what captured the imagination of the ancient Egyptians civilization by the entire world and still is the pride of every Egyptian till this date. Art is the message and imprint that each civilization is weighed by in the annals of history. Without art ancient Egypt would have been a tiny footnote in history since all those temples, palaces monuments and documents of human achievements won’t have existed. The same applies to modern day Egypt, if Egyptians succumb to the will of Islamists to fight freedom of Expression then the Egypt we know today will cease to exist. Moreover, if freedom is defeated in Egypt it will not take a long time before it’s completely obliterated in this troubled region.

Adel Imam gave Egyptians, Arabs and the entire world decades of joy, happiness, laughter and great art while on the other hand his Islamists archrivals gave these nations nothing but wars, misery , poverty, terror and backwardness. This is a call to all the freedom fighters and human rights groups around the planet to support free Egyptians against the tyranny of Islamists and forces of darkness. Support the freedom for Adel Imam and all artists in Egypt and the Middle East. Your voice must be heard to support this great actor in his ordeal or it will be only a matter of years before the infection is spread in your country. This is a time to reflect on French Journalist, writer philosopher and Nobel laureate Albert Camus words of wisdom “Without freedom, no art; Art lives only on the restraints it imposes on itself, and dies of all others.”

Support the freedom for Adel Imam