SAUDI ARABIA: Ramadan television series not always welcome
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Ramadan in the Muslim world is not only a month for fasting and praying, it is also the coolest time of the year for watching Arab television. Every evening, millions of viewers in the Arab world follow dozens of drama series produced mostly in Egypt and Syria especially for this month.
But not all the series are well seen by this region’s authorities, who are sometimes hamfisted when it comes to art or literature. Some of the series have been banned in a number of countries.
On Monday, for instance, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates gave orders to a local channel to stop airing a series based on the life of a historical tribal leader and poet who apparently belonged to the same tribe as the Saudi royal family.
According to local media, the reason behind the ban is that several Arab tribes objected to the series’ portrayal of their history. The series, ‘Saadoun Al-Awaji,’ which was aired on Abu Dhabi TV, portrays conflicts between Bedouin tribes in the north of the Arab Peninsula in the 18th century.
Pressure to stop broadcasting the series came from Saudi officials. The United Arab Emirates daily Gulf News reported:
The ban was prompted by a letter sent to King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia by Shaikh Saleh Al Ama’at Al Awaji of the Inezza tribe, demanding that the Saudi king intervenes with the UAE authorities to suspend the serial which he considered distorting history of the Inezza tribe.
Another similar case took place this month in Egypt. Authorities were accused by local media of banning a series on Egypt’s controversial former president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, on local television.
Press reports said that the series was banned for political reasons and out of fear of inciting public anger. But Egypt’s information minister, Anas Fiqi, dismissed the reports as “naïve.’
He reportedly said that the series was not fit for Ramadan since most of the programs aired at that time are basically for entertainment.
— Raed Rafei in Beirut
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