Please take a moment to visit and log in at the subscriber area, and submit your city & country location. We will use this information in future to invite you to any events that we organize in your area. One Thousand and One (or Fewer?) Arabian Nights by Ann Snyder • Jul 22, 2010 at 8:39 am http://www.legal-project.org/blog/2010/07/one-thousand-and-one-or-fewer-arabian-nights Send RSS Share: The tales that so captivated King Shahryar that he spared the life of Scheherazade have narrowly escaped their own demise (or at least expurgation). The L.A. Times reported that a group of Egyptian attorneys filed a suit aimed at banning completely or at least censoring supposedly offensive passages from a recent edition of the classic, The Arabian Nights. Fortunately, the prosecutor general of Egypt threw out that suit. However, the group, Lawyers Without Shackles, has other works in its sights. According to the article, they are "determined to delete salacious passages from contemporary literature and cherished classics." The group appears to be engaged in the same kind of Islamist lawfare tactics we have seen in the West, reportedly bringing lawsuits they have little expectation of winning. In both the U.S. and Europe, we have seen that threats of legal action can have chilling effects on free speech, effectively silencing it even when threats of violence have failed. While the dismissal is a win for freedom of expression, it should serve as a reminder of what is at stake in the battle against Islamist lawfare. The movement will attack anything that doesn't fit its agenda. Even a classic piece of Arabic literature is not off limits. Their goal is a world in which minds are shackled, a world in which expressive activities are severely curtailed, and in which our human heritage (Muslim, non-Muslim; Arab, non-Arab) is purged of anything deemed to be "offensive." This is freedom of expression Islamist-style. This is what the Legal Project is fighting against. Join us. To help us in this battle, stay informed by subscribing to our mailing list or attending our CLE, donate, or join our pro bono network. This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL.

Please take a moment to visit and log in at the subscriber area, and submit your city & country location. We will use this information in future to invite you to any events that we organize in your area. One Thousand and One (or Fewer?) Arabian Nights by Ann Snyder • Jul 22, 2010 at 8:39 am http://www.legal-project.org/blog/2010/07/one-thousand-and-one-or-fewer-arabian-nights Send RSS Share: The tales that so captivated King Shahryar that he spared the life of Scheherazade have narrowly escaped their own demise (or at least expurgation). The L.A. Times reported that a group of Egyptian attorneys filed a suit aimed at banning completely or at least censoring supposedly offensive passages from a recent edition of the classic, The Arabian Nights. Fortunately, the prosecutor general of Egypt threw out that suit. However, the group, Lawyers Without Shackles, has other works in its sights. According to the article, they are "determined to delete salacious passages from contemporary literature and cherished classics." The group appears to be engaged in the same kind of Islamist lawfare tactics we have seen in the West, reportedly bringing lawsuits they have little expectation of winning. In both the U.S. and Europe, we have seen that threats of legal action can have chilling effects on free speech, effectively silencing it even when threats of violence have failed. While the dismissal is a win for freedom of expression, it should serve as a reminder of what is at stake in the battle against Islamist lawfare. The movement will attack anything that doesn't fit its agenda. Even a classic piece of Arabic literature is not off limits. Their goal is a world in which minds are shackled, a world in which expressive activities are severely curtailed, and in which our human heritage (Muslim, non-Muslim; Arab, non-Arab) is purged of anything deemed to be "offensive." This is freedom of expression Islamist-style. This is what the Legal Project is fighting against. Join us. To help us in this battle, stay informed by subscribing to our mailing list or attending our CLE, donate, or join our pro bono network. This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original URL. To subscribe to this list, go to http://www.legal-project.org/list_subscribe.php The Legal Project The Legal Project