CAIRO, Egypt - A Cairo court said on Monday it could rule later this month on whether forcibly to divorce outspoken feminist Nawal el-Saadawi from her Muslim husband on the grounds that she is an apostate from Islam.
The court said it would decide on July 30 whether to accept a petition by Islamist lawyer Nabih al-Wahsh, who says Saadawi had shown she was no longer a Muslim in a newspaper interview earlier this year.
If the court accepts the case, it could give a verdict immediately against Saadawi or order a trial.
Saadawi says she was quoted out of context by the newspaper. Two journalists presented a taped recording of the interview to the court in Monday's session.
"I am optimistic because the case is illegal," Saadawi told Reuters on Monday. "My lawyer was here at home this morning. He said the case is illegal."
A lawyer for Saadawi said in court on Monday the court should reject the case because a recent legal amendment says only state prosecutors are empowered to litigate in personal status law on such matters as divorce.
The government pushed the amendment through parliament after a court forcibly divorced academic Nasr Abu Zeid from his wife in 1996 in a similar case, causing the couple to flee to the Netherlands.
Saadawi's writings against the oppression of Arab women by ancient traditions, including her very personal account of the pain of female circumcision, have touched a chord with many women around the world.
But in Egypt she is often depicted as an insensitive troublemaker who gained fame by confirming to Westerners their own prejudices about Arab and Islamic culture.
Some religious scholars say a Muslim found guilty of apostasy should face the death penalty, while Egypt's mix of secular and Sharia (Islamic) laws are not clear on the issue.
Enemies of Egyptian writers have sometimes turned to violence. A Muslim zealot murdered secularist Farag Foda in 1992. Novelist and Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz survived a knife attack in 1995.
07:06 07-09-01
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