The Departure
Date: 1976 - 1984 1995 - 2005 [[:Category:|]]
Region: 1951 - 1975 [[:Category:|]] [[:Category:|{location3}]]
Subject: Language Political/Economic/Social Opinion Sexual/Gender Orientation
Medium: Literature [[:Category:|]] [[:Category:|]]
Artist: Laila al-Othman
Confronting Bodies: Islamist group in Kuwait
Dates of Action: 1978 to 1984, and 2000
Location: Lebanon, Kuwait
Description of Artwork: Laila al-Othman’s book “The Departure” in which she uses words such as "lustful" in describing the relationship between one sea wave and another. According to al-Othman, she had not intended this language to have a sexual connotation.
The Incident: In 2000, “The Departure”, which reportedly had been approved by the Kuwait government censors in 1984, came back under fire. An Islamist group brought a lawsuit against Laila al-Othman for using defamatory expressions and indecent language in her book.
Results of Incident: In 2000, Laila al-Othman was convicted of using indecent language and defamatory expressions in “The Departure”. She, along with the professor Alia Shuaib - who was found guilty of publishing opinions that ridicule religion -, were both sentenced to one moth in prison for moral and religious offenses.
Source: http://leb.net/~aljadid/culture/0529staff_01.html ; and, Democracy Frontline at: http://democracyfrontline.org/blog/?p=1597 [[Category:]] [[Category:]] [[Category:]] [[Category:]] [[Category:]]