On the eve of the harsh media attack Khaled Abol Naga after criticizing the Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the Egyptian actor has enjoyed not only a wave of strong support on social media, he also took home the Best Actor award during the Cairo Film Festival on Tuesday evening.
While Abol Naga received his award during the festival's closing ceremony at the pyramids for his role in the Palestinian film “Thieves of Our Eyes,” his Twitter account of the famous actor was flooded with a massive number of hashtags, like #support_Abol_Naga and others, supporting him and any Egyptian who has the right for freedom of expression and against what they called “intellectual terrorism.”
The famous Tunisian actress Hend Sabry tweeted supportively with Abol Naga saying, “I’m pro Abol Naga to practice his freedom of expression right guaranteed by the constitution without violence or any smear or threats.”
Moreover, the political activist Khaled Talimh showed his solidarity with Abol Naga through his Twitter account, saying that everyone in the country has the right to express their opinion without harassment or being accused of treason, as long as his speech doesn’t incite either violence or hatred.
Moving to Facebook, the Egyptian singer Mohamed Attia supported Abol Naga with very sharp words against the current regime and its loyalists.
The post read, “When Abol Naga opposed the Muslim Brotherhoods, their supporters criticized him though military’sloyalists were completely supportive to his freedom of expression. Now they are harassing him simply because he mentioned Sisi’s failure.”
Attia added that no one dared to debate Abol Naga because the failure he mentioned is “crystal clear” despite that fact, people are careless and trying to convince themselves with something different, besides all of that no one dared to comment on the security solutions and thinking drawbacks.
Speaking to people who criticized Abol Naga, Attia said, “Your stubbornness strongly exceeded the Brotherhood’s and your dependency is beyond theirs. The country is crumbling and the military’s rule failed on security and administrative sides, and you are still denying all of that. Keep it up until you find a new obstacle facing you in the eyes.”
Despite the harsh criticism of some talk shows presenters like Mazhar Shahin, Tawfik Okasha, Ahmed Mousa, there was noticeably modest criticism on social media websites among activists and celebrities, except for the actor Khaled Abdel Moniem who insulted Abol Naga on his Twitter account.
In a video posted by Al Bawaba News, Abol Naga criticized the suspension of some film festivals and the displacement of Sinai residents for security precautions, saying that obsessing over security may put the country in danger, especially in the wake of Arab Spring as people are no longer as afraid.
