EIPR: Public cultural spaces should not be turned into a tool of intimidation

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) condemns the General Egyptian Book Organization’s (GEBO) decision to ban ElMaraya for Culture and Arts from participating in the 2025 Cairo International Book Fair, which concludes today, 5 February. EIPR believes that since this is the first book fair held after the appointment of the current Minister of Culture Ahmed Fouad Hanno and under the new line-up of the Egyptian Publishers Association’s (EPA) board, the minister and EPA must clearly state their position on this ban. It warns against turning the participation in an annual cultural event, such as the book fair, into a tool to intimidate independent cultural actors, to be added to the list of tools used by the security and administrative authorities to curb the right to freedom of expression.

ElMaraya shared a message to its followers on 31 December 2024, announcing that it did not receive permission from GEBO to pay the rent of its pavilion at the exhibition, and that its account on the book fair’s website was closed, which practically means preventing the company from participation in the fair. At the time, ElMaraya called for intervention of all bodies concerned, especially EPA, to persuade GEBO to reverse its decision or at least to provide a reason for the decision. Those who voiced solidarity with ElMaraya at the time, including EIPR - the legal agent of ElMaraya, asked the book fair organizers to reverse this arbitrary measure, but the exhibition was held and concluded without even providing so much as an explanation or a statement from the concerned authorities on the ban.

ElMaraya has been subjected to an organized security campaign over the past three years, which confirms that the decision to ban it from participating in the book fair this year is a security-driven move to punish it for the content of its publications and cultural events that defend and support freedom of opinion, thought and expression. In 2021 for example, the book fair’s management removed the "Curly" poetry collection authored by Egyptian poet and opposition activist Ahmed Douma from the list of publications displayed by ElMaraya, without giving reasons. In September 2022, ElMaraya’s director Yehya Fikri was questioned by Abdeen prosecution in connection with a case filed by the Artistic Works Investigations (Artistic Products and Copyright Protection Investigations Bureau.) .

On 27 July 2024, a large security force that included officers from the Abdeen police station, the Artistic Works police, and the Anti-Tax Evasion police raided ElMaraya’s headquarters after the conclusion of a seminar organized by the company. The force searched the place for at least five hours, seized 217 books, a computer, and four boxes containing financial documents, and arrested an administrative staff member, who was released hours later.

EIPR strongly condemns this securitised approach to the management of public cultural spaces funded by Egyptian taxpayers, and the abuse of such spaces in order to silence and intimidate Egyptian publishers. It calls on those in charge of the book fair, cultural activities, the publishing industry, and the cultural community in general to define and declare their position on such practices.