Egyptian novelist criticises media over coverage of daughter’s motor accident

Egyptian novelist and political commentator Alaa Aswani has criticised the country’s media for alleging that his daughter ran over a motorcyclist whereas, he insists, the latter lost control of his motorcycle before hitting the car. Aswani used Twitter to accuse the media of “lying” about how the incident took place.

Pointing out that if the country’s security agencies put into the war on terror only half of the effort they put into fabricating cases against political opponents, terror would have been eradicated, he added that “protecting the authority matters more to them than protecting the citizen.”

The case against his daughter, explained Aswani, was opened and referred to the prosecutors without her being questioned, or even notified. “Is this justice in Egypt?” he asked.

When the investigation started, Nada Aswani was questioned by prosecutors in the attendance of two lawyers, before being released, her father said.

According to news website Masr Alarabiya, prosecutors released Nada Aswani after questioning her about hitting a delivery man, without malicious intent, while he was riding a motorbike. The incident took place in Sixth of October City, located on the outskirts of Cairo. The motorcyclist was injured in the accident.

Aswani is a world-renowned writer with his Arabic-language novels getting translated into numerous languages. He gained prominence in 2005 when his novel “Yaccoubian Building” was published; it addressed corruption in Egypt.