Deemed against Islam hundreds of books seized at the Riyadh Book Fair
:March 19,2014: Saudi Arabia's religious police, the Muttawa, seized hundreds of
books from the Riyadh International Book Fair as part of a crackdown on publications
deemed a threat to the kingdom. A local daily, Okaz, reported that organisers of
the Riyadh International Book Fair confiscated "more than 10,000 copies of 420 books,"
including books by Palestinian poet Mahmud Darwish for their "blasphemous passages".
Local news website sabq.org reported that the Muttawa pressed organisers to pull all
the works by the late Darwish, widely considered one of the greatest Arab poets. Similar
action was taken against works by Badr Shaker al-Sayyab, Iraq's most famous modern
poet, those of fellow Iraqi poet Abdul Wahab al-Bayati, as well as those by Palestinian
poet Muin Bseiso. Fair organisers also banned a book entitled When will the Saudi
Woman Drive a Car? by Abdullah al-Alami, the Saudi Gazette daily reported. Other banned
books include The History of Hijab and Feminism in Islam. Before the event, which
began 4 March, organisers had announced that any book deemed "against Islam" or "undermining
security" in the kingdom would be confiscated. Source: AsiaNews