Former MP Amr Hamzawy has said that a decision to cancel his lectures at Monufiya University Monday was a “suppression of freedom.”
Hamzawy, who is currently a political science professor at the American University in Cairo, said in a tweet Monday that “the religious rightwing, the Brothers and Salafis, are returning to gagging and suppressing freedom of expression and freedom of activities at Egyptian universities.”
“[The same way that] they follow intellectuals and restrict media freedoms in Egypt through suppression and authoritarian applications of the law, canceling my lectures is an example,” he added.
Sherif Saqr, Freedom Egypt Party coordinator for Monufiya Governorate, claimed that Hamzawy’s lectures were canceled “due to the Faculty of Commerce’s Salafi deputy of education and students’ affairs, [who said] that Hamzawy’s handsomeness would charm the female students.”
Saqr added that several students and party members called on Salah al-Sayed, the university’s acting president, to hold a symposium led by Hamzawy and that Sayed had agreed, on the condition that the invitations be issued in the university’s name. The invitations were distributed to politicians throughout the governorate.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
