Egyptian art student Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, 20, poses nude for woman’s freedom fac

[Pitti]

A report number 10748 was filed this morning with the Egyptian Attorney general to lay charges according to the Blasphemy law Article 98(f) of the Penal Code, as amended by Law 147/2006 states the penalty for blasphemy and similar crimes:against Aliaa al Mahdi for posing nude on her blog. The memo also includes Aliaa’s boyfriend Karim Amer. The plaintiffs want article 98 of the Egyptian law applied to Aliaa and Karim for aiding and incitement:article 98 Shariaa States:Confinement for a period of not less than six months and not exceeding five years, or a fine of not less than five hundred pounds and not exceeding one thousand pounds shall be the penalty inflicted on whoever makes use of religion in propagating, either by words, in writing, or in any other means, extreme ideas for the purpose of inciting strife, ridiculing or insulting a heavenly religion or a sect following it, or damaging national unity.
An Egyptian blogger is defying the Islamic prudes in her country by taking it all off — and posting the pictures on the web.

Aliaa Magda Elmahdy said it’s her body to bare.

“I have the right to live freely in any place,” Elmahdy wrote on her blog. “I feel happy and self satisfied when I feel that I’m really free,” she said.

Under the heading “fan a’ry,” which means nude art, Elmahdy posted several pictures of herself in the buff, including one with strategically placed yellow rectangles.

“The yellow rectangles on my eyes, mouth and sex organ resemble the censoring of our knowledge, expression and sexuality,” wrote Elmahdy, who turns 20 on Wednesday.

On her Facebook page, Elmahdy wrote that she was “echoing screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy.”

A media arts student at the American University in Cairo, Elmahdy took the pictures at her parent’s place. Her blog also has a photo of a seated naked man holding a guitar.

While placing provocative pictures on the Web rarely raise eyebrows in the West, in an increasingly conservative Egypt what Elmahdy did is an unprecedented act of defiance.

Egyptian women have long enjoyed relatively more personal freedom than their female counterparts in other parts of the Arab world, but a worrying result of the ouster of longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak has been the rise of the Islamic Brotherhood and other religious parties.

Western clothing, once common for middle class women, has given way increasingly to head scarves and more modest attire.

And art students like Elmhady can no longer draw nude models because they’ve been banned.

source: http://liberallifestyles.com/?p=19975&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=egyptian-art-student-aliaa-maged-elmahdy-20-poses-nude-for-womans-freedom
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A brave woman to the Egyptian government says: "My body belongs to me"

I admire this woman for her courage.

[Danee]

She is a very, very brave chica and I hope this works out for her.  I somehow fear it will not. 

She is an art student, and all of that is in keeping with her passion.

http://arebelsdiary.blogspot.com/

[Bomagnon]

She is a very, very brave chica and I hope this works out for her.  I somehow fear it will not. 

She is an art student, and all of that is in keeping with her passion.

http://arebelsdiary.blogspot.com/

  brave indeed!!!!

[Daft]

 


I hope she can get away from these charges. Is there something we can do for her?

[bulletpr00f_m0nk]

Cool.  Much respect to Alia :)

I hope her courage isn't met with violence by those too ignorant to appreciate her cause.

[Daft]

Israelis strip in support of Egypt blogger


Dozens of Israeli women stripped off their clothes Saturday in a show of solidarity with the 20-year-old Egyptian blogger who caused a stir in the Arab world last week when she posted a naked photo of herself in protest against the limits on free expression in her country.

Touched by the spirited protest measure, some 40 Israelis posed for a nude group shot in support of the Egyptian activist, Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, who received threats and harsh criticism for her actions. Unlike Elmahdy, however, the Israeli women did not fully display their intimate parts for the camera.

The brains behind the operation is Or Tepler, 28, who opened a Facebook event inviting women "to show support in a non-violent and legitimate way for a woman who is just like us – young, ambitious, full of dreams and evidently has a developed sense of humor."



"Girls, let's give the world a good reason to see the unique beauty of Israeli women," Tepler wrote. "Regardless of whether they are Jewish, Arab, straight or Lesbian – because here, as of now, it doesn't matter. (…) Let us show the doubters that our international discourse doesn't depend on governments."

 
'I won't deny being a leftist'

More than 100 women said they would attend. The participants were photographed holding a sign saying "Love without Limits," and "Homage to Aliaa Elmahdi. Sisters in Israel."

 
"I got the idea the day that the blogger's photo was posted," Tepler told Ynet. "I didn't expect that she would get the response that she got. It got on my nerves that she received a quarter of a million abusive comments and death threats. (…) I felt that when a liberal, enlightened woman in Cairo cannot express herself and gets threats from her state, I should show solidarity.
 
"Of course there's the nationalistic aspect, and I won't deny being a leftist and a seeker of peace," she added. "I feel like the governments don't represent the enlightened, simple people who want peace."
 
Tepler, who was active in the social protest movement over the summer, made efforts to get in touch with Elmahdy, but was unsuccessful.

"She's as popular as Daphni Leef on the 14th of July," she explained. "I sent her an e-mail, but I saw that her Twitter and Facebook account have been closed. People really want to take her down, while we want to show her that there are many groups that support her."


http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4150344,00.html

[Daft]

Any news about this incident?

[uberreicher]

I anticipate more such incidents in the future. The arab world as a whole seems to be growing more conservative. Just imagine what her punishments might be if the muslim brotherhood were in charge.

[JeteyeMa]

This is very sad. I hope she gets through this and the Egyptians find a way to live with each other. I know many Christian groups are afraid of what might happen in Egypt, churches have already seen violence there since the revolution.

~Jet

[Cabding]

I'd say stop by her blogspot and show her some support! The sand grain of support in the sea of violence can make a huge difference! Show our naked sister that she isn't alone!

[Daft]

Great to see that she still updates her blog.

[Daft]

Here she is - Alia Al-Mahdi Demonstrates Naked in Sweden – Photos http://www.athensreport.com/alia-al-mahdi-demonstrates-naked-in-sweden-photos/

(I'd link the article and photos, but since the subject is sensitive, I just put the lURL).

[chrisw91]

I think this is a great picture. Unfortunately, I'm sure its very true.

[Daft]

Egypt May Strip Nude Photo Revolutionary of Her Citizenship



Alia al-Mahdy, the Egyptian activist known for politically exposing her naked body, did so again last month in a protest video made with members of the Russian group FEMEN. The video is a protest against the current government’s constitution, which al-Mahdy and others believes institutionalizes Islamist views on, and against, women.

Now, Islamists are petitioning the Muslim Brotherhood government of Egypt to strip her of her citizenship.

According to Al Arabiya, an Egyptian Islamist activist, Mahmoud Abdel Rahman, has petitioned the country’s public prosecutors, suing for them to revoke her citizenship and to put her on a watch list that would allow public officials to arrest her should she return to her homeland.

“By standing there naked,” Abel Rahman wrote in his complaint, referring to her video with FEMEN, “she tarnished the image of Egypt and derided religion.”

The hate and rage directed at al-Mahdy since she took part in the protest has not been limited to legal measures. She told the Egyptian news publication al-Watan that she’s been getting death threats.

“If I go back to Egypt, I will be put in jail and I might be killed if the current regime remains in power.”

Islamists are hardly the only group to condemn al-Mahdy, noted the online magazine Jadaliyya in an interesting essay on the implications of her protest. From her first photo in late October of 2011, liberals have screamed condemnation as loudly as any bearded, barefoot would-be mullah.

The April 6 Youth Movement, an early Facebook-based youth protest group, went so far as to shamefully accuse her of being part of a conspiracy against them. “How can we have accepted the membership of a girl who behaves like this?” they asked, in an apparent vacuum of self-awareness.

The shaky rationale for her condemnation by Egyptian liberal groups is that al-Mahdy has given Islamists a pretext for attacking those who do not want an Islamist regime.

“They have double standards,” al-Mahdy said. “They claim they believe in freedom, but they never practice what they preach.”

Another revolutionary woman, in a different place, at a different time, said something that could have been written today, and could have been written to Alia:

“I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from conventions and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement should not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it.”

When in doubt, always back the naked chick.

http://www.richardsonmag.com/post/217003/egypt-may-strip-nude-photo-revolutionary-of-her-citizenship

[chrisw91]

Egypt May Strip Nude Photo Revolutionary of Her Citizenship



Alia al-Mahdy, the Egyptian activist known for politically exposing her naked body, did so again last month in a protest video made with members of the Russian group FEMEN. The video is a protest against the current government’s constitution, which al-Mahdy and others believes institutionalizes Islamist views on, and against, women.

Now, Islamists are petitioning the Muslim Brotherhood government of Egypt to strip her of her citizenship.

According to Al Arabiya, an Egyptian Islamist activist, Mahmoud Abdel Rahman, has petitioned the country’s public prosecutors, suing for them to revoke her citizenship and to put her on a watch list that would allow public officials to arrest her should she return to her homeland.

“By standing there naked,” Abel Rahman wrote in his complaint, referring to her video with FEMEN, “she tarnished the image of Egypt and derided religion.”

The hate and rage directed at al-Mahdy since she took part in the protest has not been limited to legal measures. She told the Egyptian news publication al-Watan that she’s been getting death threats.

“If I go back to Egypt, I will be put in jail and I might be killed if the current regime remains in power.”

This is horrible

Thanks for the update though