Authorities arrested seven men accused of being gay after they raised a LGBT flag at a concert by band Mashrou' Leila, who is now banned from the country.

A lawyer filed a lawsuit against TV series ‘La Tofte’ El Shams’ (Don’t Let the Sun Set) for allegedly offending Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

On 2 July 2017, the Egyptian Censorship Board rejected four songs from being released on Cairokee’s new album without giving the band an official reason.

Egyptian heavy metal musician and concert promoter Nader Sadek is suing Head of the Music Syndicate Hani Shaker for libel and defamation.

ART UNDER THREAT IN 2016: WHAT DROVE VIOLATIONS The following section of the Art under Threat in 2016 report explores the issues and tendencies that drove governments and other groups to limit artistic expression. TABLE OF CONTENTS * Click on the following titles to be taken to that part of …

ART UNDER THREAT IN 2016: EGYPT SERIOUS VIOLATIONS: 18 ACTS OF CENSORSHIP: 19 State censorship of the arts in the name of “protecting public morals and state interests” continues to stifle artistic freedom of expression in Egypt. Restrictions on art and literary works that address politics, sex and religion, remain …

Egypt’s highest court suspended the two-year prison sentence against writer Ahmed Naji who was imprisoned for “violating public decency” by publishing “sexually explicit” writings featured in his novel that also appeared as excerpts in a literary magazine, reported Reuters on 18 December 2016. The court temporarily suspended the writer’s sentence …

On 1 December 2016, authorities shut down two al-Karama public library branches in Tora and Dar al-Salam. The libraries were founded by Gamal Eid, human rights lawyer and head of Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), without any warning or official reason, simply stating they had “received orders” to …

On 26 November 2016, a Cairo misdemeanour court ruled against novelist Ahmed Naji’s third appeal over his two-year prison sentence for “violating public decency” by publishing “sexually explicit” passages in his novel ‘The Use of Life’, which were also published in a literary magazine in 2014, reported Ahram Online. The …

Police and national security officials stormed the Mashrabia Gallery for Contemporary Art in downtown Cairo on 31 October 2016, a gallery employee told Freemuse, speaking on condition of anonymity, saying it took everyone at the gallery “completely by surprise”. Rather than raiding the gallery and asking for its license or …