After spending a bit over 10 months behind bars for his writing, prominent Egyptian novelist Ahmed Naji is about to be released.
Egypt's highest court of appeals suspended Naji's prison sentence on Sunday.
The suspension does not cancel the prison sentence altogether. But it puts the sentence on pause, until a decision has been reached regarding his charges.
1. Naji was convicted for his "sexually explicit" work
Naji was convicted for his "sexually explicit" work in his novel Istikhdam al-Hayah (The Use of Life).
He was put on trial after excerpts from his novel referencing sex and drug use appeared in the state-owned newspaper Akhbar Al-Adab in 2014.
Soon after, 65-year-old Egyptian citizen Hani Saleh Tawfik filed a complaint claiming the content "made his blood pressure drop and his heartbeat fluctuate."
Naji was initially sentenced to two years in prison and received a $1,200 fine.
The newspaper's editor Tarek al-Taher was also ordered to pay a fine worth 10,000 Egyptian pounds for publishing the article.
Initially, Naji was acquitted. But following an appeal of the verdict, he received the sentence in a retrial.
2. Woody Allen and 120 other writers/artists signed a letter, calling for Naji's release
The 31-year-old writer's imprisonment garnered the attention of PEN America, a freedom of expression advocacy group. PEN drafted a letter demanding Naji's release back in May.
American filmmaker Woody Allen and 120 other writers and artists signed the letter, which was sent to President Sisi.
It explicitly defended Naji, as he was jailed for something that should not be a crime: Writing. It argued that his writings were protected by the Egyptian constitution.
“Mr Naji is serving a two-year prison sentence for writing a novel that contains references to sex and drugs, subjects so relevant to contemporary life that they are addressed through creative expression worldwide, and clearly fall within Egypt’s constitutional protections for artistic freedom,” said the letter.
3. The 2014 Egyptian Constitution protects "freedom of expression"
Egypt's constitution, drafted in 2014, explicitly guarantees freedom of artistic and literary creation, freedom of thought and opinion and freedom of the press.
Article 67 forbids the jailing of artists and writers for publishing their work.
"Every person shall have the right to express his/her opinion verbally, in writing, through imagery, or by any other means of expression and publication," the constitution states.
But, Naji was sentenced under Article 178 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes content that violates public morals.
"After Mr. Naji was sentenced, seven members of the 2014 constitutional drafting committee criticized his punishment as unconstitutional," the PEN letter stated.
The organization called for amending the Penal Code.
"We urge you to amend Art. 178 of the Penal Code to bring it into compliance with the constitution, and to immediately free Mr. Naji."
4. Naji received the "Freedom to Write" prize in absentia
Back in May, Naji was awarded the "Freedom to Write" award by PEN America.
His brother Mohamed Naji accepted the award on his behalf.
"Ahmed sends you all his greetings and wishes he could be here tonight. Right now, he is in solitary confinement. This is something I am living with now; this is the meaning of imprisonment," Mohamed Naji said.
He explained that Naji wasn't allowed to write a personal message, saying it would be "dangerous."
"Any written messages from prison in Egypt require a permit, and would be subject to the monitoring of the prison’s administration," he added.
5. Egypt's crackdown on freedom of expression is getting worse
The government's crackdown on reporters, political activists and social reformers has drawn condemnation from international human rights organizations and western governments.
Writers, especially journalists, have been at the forefront of the crackdown.
Earlier this year, 40 armed members of the National Security agency attacked journalists at the Press Syndicate, the first time since it was established in 1941.
Amnesty International called it "the most brazen attack on the media" in Egypt in decades.
In 2015, a CPJ conducted census found that Egyptian authorities were holding at least 19 journalists behind bars for their work. This is the highest number in the country since the CPJ began recording data on imprisoned journalists in 1990, and the third highest of any country in the world.