Cairo: Education officials in Giza, a sister city of the Egyptian capital, have torched more than 80 books at a school, for alleged incitement to militancy.
The books were seized from a library of a private school and set on fire in the courtyard this week as the officials waved the national flag and patriotic songs blared out from a loudspeaker, local media reported.
The school is one of a dozen educational institutions raided last year by Egyptian authorities for being run by followers of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
“The books were burnt after their content had been found to violate principles of moderate Islam and instigate violence,” Buthaina Keshk, an aide to the education minister in Giza said. “The aim of burning them inside the school was to prove their confiscation there and make them an example of the fate of any extremist thinking,” Keshk added in a statement.
According to her, most authors of these books are sympathisers of the Muslim Brotherhood, whom the army removed from power in 2013 following massive street protests against its rule. “These books had been illegally and secretly put into the library without being examined by the committee entrusted with operating the school.”
The torching act drew scathing criticism, even from within the Egyptian government.
The Culture Ministry condemned the act, saying some of the destroyed books tackled rules of governance in Islam, women’s rights and combat of addiction. “How can then these books incite extremism and terrorism?” the ministry said.
“We denounce this act of intellectual terrorism and confirm our support for freedom of creativity and thinking.”
Egypt’s non-governmental cultural grouping, the Writers’ Union, slammed the incident as unacceptable. “Thinking should be countered by thinking, not by burning of books,” the union said. “This behaviour leaves a bad impression on children whose minds should be shaped by learning, not by such exclusionary methods.”
Faced with the criticism, Education Minister Moheb Al Refai said he was “completely against” burning books. The recently appointed minister said he had ordered the education officials involved in the incident be questioned. “Fighting militant thinking can never be pursued by burning books, but by rearing children in a way that makes them reject extremism, violence and terrorism.”
Egypt has in recent months seen an increase in attacks by suspected militants. Authorities have mounted an inexorable crackdown on dissidents, mainly Islamists, raising concerns about freedom of expression.
