Egypt's Culture Minister Vows to Ban 'Da Vinci Code'

Egypt's culture minister vowed to ban the film The Da Vinci Code for insulting religion and said in comments published Wednesday that he would pull the novel from store shelves.

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Egypt's culture minister vowed to ban the film The Da Vinci Code for insulting religion and said in comments published Wednesday that he would pull the novel from store shelves.

The teaser poster for Columbia Pictures' The Da Vinci Code

Farouk Hosni told parliament he had told the movie censorship board not to allow copies of the Hollywood hit into the country "because it insults religions, and what is blasphemous to Jesus Christ is considered insulting to Islam as well."

"The Culture Ministry will also seek out the book and confiscate it," he said in a speech Tuesday, reported in state-run papers.

The speech came after Georgette Qelliny, a Coptic Christian lawmaker, demanded the banning of the book and movie, which are based around the premise that Jesus and Mary Magdalene fathered children whose descendants are still alive. She held up copies of the book in English and their Arabic translations in parliament demanding they be forbidden.

The promised ban was a move to assuage Christians and show the government seeks to protect their religion at a time when Egypt has seen an increase in tensions between its Muslim majority and large Christian community, thought to make up about 10 per cent of its 73 million people.

Three days of riots broke out in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria in April after a man stabbed worshippers in three churches, killing one. Similar riots broke out last year when Muslims attacked churches, angry over what they believed was a church video insulting Islam.

Lebanon, which like Egypt has a large Christian minority, banned the novel The Da Vinci Code in 2004 and does not appear likely to allow the film. The movie has been showing in Gulf nations, despite demands by the tiny Christian community in the island nation of Bahrain that it be forbidden.

Jordan's Council of Churches, the country's top Christian organization, urged the government there to forbid the film. No decision has been made, and the film is not showing in Jordanian theatres.

Earlier this month, Egyptian police seized 2,000 pirated DVDs of The Da Vinci Code.

Ali Abu Shadi, director of Egypt's censorship board, said the film hasn't been officially banned from theatres because copies of the film have not been sent to Egypt. But he said he expected it would be rejected.

"I can't ban something I haven't seen, but if it violates religions, it will be banned according to law, not me," Abu Shadi told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "If the movie is anything like the book, it will be banned," he added.

The novel The Da Vinci Code has been sold in Arabic translation in Egypt for more than two years, as well as English editions. It appeared the ban would apply to both. Egypt has previously banned books even after years on the shelves if a controversy arises over them - particularly if the controversy centres over religion or sexual content.