Egyptian imam banned from the air for sex-with-dead-wives edict

Cairo Sep 19 (IANS/AKI) Controversial cleric Sabri Abdel Raouf cannot go on television or radio Egypt s top media watchdog ruled on Tuesday after he said that Muslims could have sex with their wives corpses Al-Arabiya Arabic news channel reported on Tuesday.

The Supreme Council for Media Regulation decision bans Raouf - a professor at Cairo s prestigious Al-Azhar university - from appearing on private or public satellite channels or to be hosted on radio stations.

Raouf s fatwa insults Islam and disrespects the sanctity of the dead said the council s director Makram Mohammed Ahmed quoted by Al-Arabiya.

The council has also banned TV programmes from discussing such issues and will appeal to the Al-Azhar - the leading authority on Sunni Islam - to investigate Raouf Al-Arabiya quoted Ahmed as stating.

Raouf known as Sheikh Sabri denied issuing the fatwa saying his comments during an interview with Egypt s private LTC channel on Sunday have been misrepresented.

In the TV interview Raouf reportedly said that Islam does not consider sexual intercourse between a man and a dead woman as a ‘sin as long as the dead woman was his wife.

Although Raouf also reportedly said necrophilia was not a practice that society could easily accept or one in which a rational person would engage his comments sparked outrage in Egypt.

Raouf was vilified on social media with users calling on the Egyptian government promptly put the preacher on trial.

--IANS
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