이슬람명절 가축도살 비판한 이집트 유명작가, ‘신성모독죄’ 3년 징역형

* ‘아시아엔’ 해외연수 기자의 한글요약본과 원문을 함께 게재합니다.

[아시아엔=라드와 아시라프 기자·번역 최정아 기자] 이집트 유명작가 파티마 나우트가 신성모독죄로 3년 징역형과 2천550달러 벌금형을 선고받았다.

지난 30일(현지시간) 나오트는 그의 공식 페이스북 계정에 “이집트-캐나다 컨퍼런스 참석차 캐나다 토론토로 이동하는 와중에 소식을 들었다. 신성모독과 표현의 자유 관련 법조항에 대해 심도있는 논의가 필요하다”고 밝혔다.

나오트의 담당 변호사 셰리프 아디브는 현지 언론 <아흐람>(Ahram)에 “나우트가 10일 안에 항소할 예정”이라며 “이집트 법원이 항소를 또다시 거부하면 프랑스 대법원인 파기원(Court of Cassation)에 항소안을 제출할 것”이라고 밝혔다.

그는 지난해 10월 이슬람 명절 이드 알-아드하(Eid Al-Adha)에 가축을 도살하는 전통을 비판하는 내용의 글을 페이스북에 게재해 논란을 빚었다.

그는 “가축을 도살하는 이드 알-아드하 전통은 학살이다. (도축당한 가축들은) 신성하고 신실한 악몽을 위해 생명을 내놓아야한다”고 말했다.

나오트는 페이스북을 통해 자신이 가축 도살 전통에 대해 비판한 것을 인정했으나, 이것이 이슬람교를 모욕했다는 혐의는 강력부인했다. 나오트는 “인간들은 가축들을 살상하는 죄를 정당화하고 있으며, 오히려 도살을 신성시하고 있다”며 강조했다.

Egyptian writer sentenced to 3 years in jail for ‘contempt of religion’

Egyptian writer Fatima Naoot was sentenced three years in jail and a LE20,000 ($2550) fine, after being found guilty of contempt of religion and blasphemy, reported Al-Ahram.

The misdemeanor court rejected an appeal by Naoot’s defence team against the sentence, upholding the sentence and the fine. While on Wednesday 30th March, Naoot said on her official Facebook account she was travelling to Canada to attend the “The First Egyptian-Canadian Conference in Toronto,” where several issues including blasphemy laws and freedom of expression would be discussed, according to the writer.

However, Naoot’s lawyer Sherif Adib told Ahram Online that Naoot will still present an appeal document in ten days. “If the court rejects the yet to be presented appeal document, Naoot will appeal the sentence before of Court of Cassation,” he said.

The self-professed secularist was convicted on the basis of a Facebook post she wrote in October 2015 criticising the ethics of Eid Al-Adha’s tradition of slaughtering sheep.

“[It’s] a yearly massacre because a good man once had a nightmare about his good son, and although the nightmare has passed for the good man and his son, the [sheep] pay their lives as a price for that holy nightmare,” Naoot also wrote in an article in the daily Al-Masry Al-Youm.

During questioning, Naoot acknowledged writing the Facebook post but denied that her aim was to insult Islam. Naoot argued that humans justified their lust for killing and enjoying the smell of game cooking by attempting to bestow a divine meaning on their actions, according to Al-Shrouq.

Naoot herself expressed in a facebook post that she’s ready to serve her jail sentence with high head and announced that Egypt’s minister of culture, Helmy El-Nemnem, expressed his solidarity with her as a writer and a minister.

Naoot is the second public figure to be convicted of blasphemy in the past few months. In December, TV host and researcher, Islam Behery was sentenced to one year in prison for “contempt of religion” after questioning orthodox Islamic beliefs on his now-suspended TV show on “Al-Qahera Wal-Nas channel.”