Hussein Fahmy among stars slamming Adel Imam verdict

Egyptian actor Adel Emam Cairo – Khaled Ali A number of Egyptian artists have expressed their solidarity with the movie star Adel Imam, after he was sentenced to 3 months in jail on charges of insulting Islam in some of his movies. The Egyptian Front for Creativity, which was formed by Egyptian artists, has organised a protest for 11am Thursday outside the Agouza Court on Cairo's Sudan Street. The protest will be held in conjunction with the trial of directors Sherif Arafa, Nader Galal and Mohamed Fadel, as well as the writers Wahid Hamed and Lenin El-Ramly, all of whom face charges of "insulting" Islam, for their part in Imam's movies. 
The Egyptian actor Hussein Fahmy told Arabstoday that he will participate in the protest, even though he is busy filming his new series "Haffat al-Ghadab" (Edge of Rage).
"This verdict is a shame on Egypt as well as the Egyptian artists. Have we reached the stage in which we will witness the imprisonment of one of Egypt's most remarkable art icons? This is an unbelievable thing to happen in a country which is supposed to be the capital of Arab art," said Fahmy.
Egyptian actor Said Saleh has described the lawyer who prosecuted the comedian as "a clown, who just wants to make a name for himself by suing the most remarkable artist in Egypt".
"I'm confident Adel will be not guilty in the end, as he is just doing his job as an actor who has the right to express his views about any case in his country. The Egyptian artists will never give up and they will protect their art by whatever means," said Saleh, who is also a close friend to Adel Imam.
The Egyptian actress Rania Mahmoud Yassin, expressed her frustration about the verdict against Imam, saying "anybody is free to criticise artistic productions, but this shouldn't give them the right to sue the artists, as such actions are only intended to terrorise them".
"I got a feeling during the last year that something like this will happen, that is what pushed me to launch a page called 'The Egyptian Artist's Dignity' on Facebook, in order to defend the artists' right to live in dignity and to be protected from the extremist threats," said Rania.
An Islamist lawyer, Assran Mansour, had prosecuted Imam, along with other scriptwriters and movie directors, charging them with insulting Islam and other religious tenets, such as wearing the hijab for women and being bearded for men, in some of the movies which Imam starred in.