Background:

Al-Muhājir (translation: the Immigrant, common spelling: El Muhager), a film by the Coptic Christian film director Yūsuf Shāhīn, caused uproar when it screened in Egyptian cinemas, especially as it had not been prevented by authorities after Islamists sued the film and its crew. Yūsuf Shāhīn had to defend himself and his film and managed to take the right to screen his film again in cinemas. Besides Shāhīn, there were many human rights advocates and professional syndicates such as the Syndicate of Journalists, who became involved as well. Shāhīn held press conferences in the Syndicate of Journalists in attendance of his supporters to celebrate and proclaim the details of the situation. This tape is of one of those conferences.

Side A:

The tape starts off with a speech given by a journalist from the Syndicate of Journalists. He affirms the support of the cultural committee in the syndicate to the movie al-Muhājir. Ṭāriq al-Shinnāwī, Egyptian critic and journalist, welcomes the crew of the movie, its actors, and also the Secretary- General of the Syndicate of Actors. He continues to affirm on the determination of the Syndicate of Journalists to advocate freedom of expression.

Yūsuf Shāhīn starts his speech with thanking the Egyptian judiciary for claiming the right of freedom of expression. He comments on the global journalism behavior which has been waiting for more complexity with this issue to write about grievances in Egypt, but he says that he does not need this propaganda.

Shāhīn says that he does not want to talk about the movie but rather about some reflections regarding this issue. He criticizes policies of oppression, and lack of freedom of expression which according to Shāhīn started with the July 23^rd revolution, and marginalized big sectors of Egyptians and allegedly pushed some of them to extremism. Shāhīn calls for dialogue and more open spaces for expression, and mention the instances of Algeria and Lebanon as results for authoritarianism and restricting freedoms. He also argues that the Egyptian state neither appreciates cinema nor journalism. Shāhīn asserts that his film has a moral message and that is why he believes it is fair to get it rescreened again. He also discusses how important the film industry in Egypt is and calls for opening spaces for other political currents in Egypt like for the Ḥizb al-Tajammuʿ (Tajammuʿ Party), and Islamists.

After Shāhīn finished his speech, Yūsuf ʿUthmān, the head of the Syndicate of Actors spoke in support of freedom of expression. Several journalists subsequently stood up to show their support for Shāhīn. ʿUthmān added that it is them as journalists who would be the first people who could benefit from these spaces of freedom.

Ṣalāḥ ʿĪssā  of the Egyptian Committee for Art and Literary Creativity and Academic Research read out a statement. He doubted that those who sued the film in courts had ever even seen the film but rather read misleading articles in opposition journals. He blamed opposition journalism for not being all advocating freedom of expression.

Side B:

ʿĪssā argues that a democratic system has to include all political currents, and respect all opinions. A journalist questioned Shāhīn about what he exactly meant by dialogue and how relevant it is to Islamists as well as the possibility of including them in the democratic system. Shāhīn is convinced that society has to include Islamists and society must be open to listen to them, otherwise they could be pushed to radical behavior. He also refers to the Wahhabist funds to these Islamist groups as a kind of intellectual colonization and he stresses on the necessity to refrain from that.

Another journalist shared his opinion and said that liberty shall not be the first priority for them, and that their abdication about what he called holy constants (taboos) is another kind of enslaving for freedom. In terms of that, he sees that these taboos need to be addressed which he thinks the film has done. Shāhīn answers by mentioning instances of his artistic past, when he defended Islam in the Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn film, and that all his contributions prove his tendency to advocate Islam not to undermine it.