Composer Ahmed Hegazy Imprisoned for Quran Oud Video

The Al-Nuzha Misdemeanor Court sentenced composer Ahmed Hegazy to six months in prison and a bail of 2000 Egyptian pounds on charges of contempt of religion after he appeared in a video reading the Quran to the tune of the oud.

Egyptian lawyer Mahmoud El Samary had filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor, numbered 503546, against composer Ahmed Hegazy, accusing him of contempt of the Islamic religion. The complaint stated that composer Ahmed Hegazy had composed the Quran on the oud, and had published a recorded clip on social media platforms, which spread widely, ‘arousing the anger of every Muslim citizen who is zealous about his religion’.

Mohamed Hashad, head of the Quran Reciters Syndicate, had previously stated that the syndicate would seek the identity of the individuals in the recorded video, in which a person is seen reciting the Quran with musical modes while playing the oud, describing the scene as contempt of religions.