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A painted portrait of El Shafee

Magdy El Shafee (in Arabic: مجدي الشافعي) is aמ Egyptian Cartoonist and Social activist, best known as the author of the first graphic novel in the Arab world, Metro.

His Life

El Shafee was born at 1961 in Libya, for to Egyptian parents. The first comic that He drew was a short comics about Pharaoh, which he drew at the age of 10. At a 2010 NUES conference in Italy, El Shafee interviewed and said that he was fortunate enough to be born into a liberal family that encouraged his connection to art.

In 2001 he attended a painting workshop at the American University in Cairo. In that workshop, he first encountered American, satirical and critical comics, he realized that comics were the right way for him to express his, and many other young people, despair and feelings. He cites comedian Robert Crumb as the biggest influence on his comic, "Metro". He first met Crumb's works in 1981, when he was 20 years old. Robert Crumb is known for the distinct political comic strips. In 2001 El Shafee began work on his book, which would be published only in 2008, seven years later.

"Metro"

El Shafee grew up in Egypt in the 1970s, and experienced firsthand the upheaval that led to Mubarak's rule. Mubarak, who was a dictatorial ruler, suppressed his opponents, and according to El Shafee even crushed the Egyptian economy and led many young people to turn to the black market and crime in order to survive. Therefore, his comic dealt with such a young man, whose corrupt Mubarak rule did not let him develop economically. the main character of the story, Shehab, is forced to rob a bank so he could pay for the most basic needs. Meanwhile, he exposes alleged corruption cases in which senior members of the Egyptian regime are explicitly involved.

His book, "Metro",The book deals with linguistic corruption in Egypt, religious freedom in the country and governmental dictatorship. He also presents a short sex scene, which will later be used as a pretext for prosecuting a-Shafi'i. It was published by Malameh Publisher, A small company run by the social activist Mohammed El Sharqawi.

A few days after the publication of the book, the police decided to shelve all the copies of the book and it was taken from the bookstores and stalls. The reason for the action was an alleged “violation of public morality” because the book contained sexual passages. Nevertheless, it was clear to all that the reason for the act was that the book contained much criticism against the regime, which did not view it favorably. On the contrary, El Shafee and publisher Mohammed El Sharqawi were charged with the same charge.

The Trail

El Shafee and the young publisher El Sharqawi were prosecuted for violating section 178 to the Egyptian Penal Code. They were charged with "violated public decency." Nearly a year later, the two were put on trial in the Egyptian court, and received widespread attention by news channels around the world, as well as human rights organizations claiming to have violated freedom of expression in El Shafee trial. Some of those organizations acsually came to the very much court and demonstrated against the Egyptian prosecutor's office in what they saw as "serious violation of freedom of expression". In May 2008 a lawyer, who was a member of the Egyptian National Party, was appointed as the State Attorney in the trail.

A number of charges have been filed on behalf of the State Attorney's Office, including "violation of public morality" and "violation of public decency." On the other hand, the lawyers of El Shafee and El Sharqawi claimed that the book was only a literary critique, and it is protected by the law of freedom of expression in Egypt. Many human rights groups sent Witnesses to the trial who argued that "literary criticism is the only way to judge a creative literary work, and the prosecution of the author and publisher in the criminal court is considered a blatant attack on freedom of expression and freedom of creativity".