Saudi book fair removes 10,000 copies of 'blasphemous' titles

Saudi authorities have reportedly banned 10,000 copies of 420 books because they were deemed threatening to the conservative kingdom.
The works included publications by the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, who is widely considered one of the greatest Arab poets.
Organisers of the Riyadh International Book Fair were coerced into withdrawing Darwish’s poetry following protests against “blasphemous passages” from the kingdom’s notorious religious police, AFP reported.

Other books removed from the fair included works by Iraq’s most famous modern poet, Badr Shaker Al Sayyab, another Iraqi poet, Abdul Wahab Al Bayati, Palestinian poet Muin Bseiso and books by Azmi Bishara, a former Arab MP who fled Israel in 2007 and is now close to authorities in Qatar, Saudi website Sabq.org reported.

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