Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey ban issue of French magazine

Reporters Without Borders today condemned the bans imposed since the start of the month by Egypt, Tunisia and Turkey on the latest issue of the French bimonthly magazine Historia Thématique, which is about fundamentalism and has as its subhead, ‘The major religions confront their old demons.’ The Tunisian authorities announced their ban on 10 January, saying it was due to a picture showing the Prophet Mohammed, which is ‘formally forbidden in Islam.’ The picture in fact comes from an illustrated copy of the Koran dating from 1583 that is in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Istanbul. The January issue of Historia, a monthly produced by the same publishing house, has been on sale without any problem although it has an illustration showing Mohammed in partially animal form (with feathers and the tail of a fish). Historia editor Pierre Baron said that the reaction to the Historia Thématique issue was indicative of the current climate of intolerance. He pointed out that the issue was also about Christian and Jewish fundamentalism. (Reporters Without Borders,January 15, 2007)

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