Egypt

The Arab Women's Solidarity Association - Belgium has created a trilingual online petition in protest of the threats faced by writer Nawal El Saadawi by non-state actors and express support for the freedom of expression and creativity in all contexts.

In Belgium Sadaawi learned that Al Azhar University, Sunni Islam's premier institution, is filing suit against her for the play "God Resigns at the Summit Meeting" on the grounds that it insults Islam.

The Egyptian Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, recently asserted that the growing number of headscarf wearers in Egypt must be taken as a sign of backwardness. An interview with Nabil Abdel-Fattah on the background behind the headscarf debate.

A 2006 government survey found that 96 percent of Egyptian women who've been married have undergone some sort of genital mutilation and that nearly 70 percent of schoolgirls expected to be cut by the time they turn 18.