Egypt Charges Wealthy Coptic Politician With Blasphemy

The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that in Egypt, Naguib Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom and a major shareholder in the cell phone service provider Mobinil, has been charged by prosecutors with blasphemy and insulting Islam. He is to appear in court for a hearing on Jan. 14.  Sawiris, a Coptic Christian and a billionaire, heads the secular Free Egyptians Party which is expected to end up in third place with about 10% of the seats in the new parliament.  The charges against Sawiris stem from his posting a photo depicting a bearded Mickey Mouse and a veiled Minnie Mouse on his Twitter account last June. A group of Islamist lawyers filed a civil suit against him immediately after the cartoon was published. The photo at issue was reproduced yesterday by Arutz Sheva which reports that in the tweet publishing the cartoon, Sawiris joked that these Disney characters would be forced to dress modestly if Islamists took control of Egypt.