censorship of intellectuals shows a discrepancy between what is laid down in
the country’s constitution and reality. It does not make sense in an age of free-
flowing information around the globe through the Internet and the satellite
dish. Having invested her hopes in democratization in Egypt, in 2001, after an
interview in which the seventy-year-old woman activist spoke of a deep-rooted
exploitation and oppression in class, patriarchal, national and religious systems,
and described certain practices as contradictory to the true spirit of Islam
and to a correct interpretation of the Quranic text, El-Sa’adawi was brought
before the Shari’a Court in Cairo by which she was accused of apostasy. The
judiciary was urged by the Mufti of Egypt to separate her from her husband
since she was unfit to be the wife of a Muslim (see Chapter 3).