The Arabist

The Arabist

By Issandr El Amrani and friends.

Iran-Egypt culture wars

The naming of a Tehran street after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's assassin, Khaled Eslamboli, has long been a source of diplomatic tension and the object of repeated negotiations. Now comes news of a documentary, by the Committee for Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement (the Iranians always have the best committee names), celebrating Eslamboli. It's called "The Execution of a Pharaoh." This has not gone down well in Cairo. One Egyptian columnist has suggested erecting a statue of the Shah in a Cairo square. There's an article on this is this week's Al Ahram Weekly, but I can't find a link.