Egypt editor in race row with France

The editor-in-chief of Egypt's leading daily, Al-Ahram, has received a French court summons for alleged incitement to racial hatred.

Ibrahim Nafi stands accused of promoting anti-Jewish views and has been called to appear before a Paris court on 9 August.

The investigation relates to an article headlined "Jewish pie from Arab blood", written by journalist Adel Hamouda, and published by Al-Ahram on 28 October 2000.

Gruesome tale

Mr Hamouda's article cited an allegation by a 19th century French author, Charles Laurand, that a French priest and his servant had been killed by Jews in Damascus.

He claimed that their bones and blood had been used to cook a matzo, the Jewish unleavened bread traditionally eaten during Passover.

Writing in Al-Ahram, Mr Nafi said he respected French justice and had never been against Judaism as a religion.

However, he added that he was against the Israeli Likud movement's "expansionist policies," which he said jeopardised peace and stability in the Middle East.

Auction

French law prohibits the sale or display of anything that is deemed to incite racism.

In 2000 a French judge ruled that the US internet service provider Yahoo! Inc must make it impossible for French users to access sites auctioning race hate memorabilia.

Yahoo! eventually banned the offending auctions from its sites.

The front page of Al-Ahram's 28 October 2000 issue can be found through the paper's web site. It shows a link to Mr Hamouda's article.

However, the link is dead, as the article apparently has been removed or quarantined. The rest of the archive is working normally.

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