'Metro' writer responds to ban

Egyptian writer Magdy El Shafee has hit out at the decision to ban his graphic novel Metro in his native land.

The book is set in modern-day Cairo, rife with crime and corruption. It was banned by an Egyptian court three years after its release following claims that it "infringed public decency". El Shafee and his publisher were each fined LE 5000 (£615).

"Guilty of infringing public decency? There is some limited content of a sexual nature in Metro, but would that really infringe the public's sense [of] public decency?" El Shafee told The Sydney Morning Herald.

"The political and business figures in this book, they are easily recognisable to the Egyptian public,'' said Shafee. "These are very corrupt and disgusting people who rule Egypt, who are in the pockets of the regime, and it is the ordinary people who love Cairo who are suffering."

Metro follows a young software designer named Shihab, who reluctantly robs a bank after corrupt government officials force him out of business. Characters featured in the book are based on real-life business figures, who were not named because the author feared arrest.

"These are very corrupt and disgusting people who rule Egypt, who are in the pockets of the regime, and it is the ordinary people who love Cairo who are suffering," he added.

"Gradually I came to realise that with this genre, you can manipulate life, you can represent thoughts, fantasies, political movements in a different way. And then I realised that you could use this for an adult audience."

El Shafee is currently preparing a defence against the court's ruling.