Cairo - More than 300 Egyptian intellectuals and artists expressed support yesterday for reprinting a book that has aroused violent protests among Muslim religious students. They submitted a petition to public prosecutors in support of two writers charged for recommending re-publication of A Banquet for Seaweed by Syrian writer Haider Haider in 1983.
Prosecutors have charged the two writers with "denigrating religions and publishing and printing works against public decency" by proposing the reprinting in a series published by the culture ministry.