An unnecessary fight with religious censors has pushed a co-operative Lebanese comic book to the brink. It’s another frustrating episode for comic book fans across the region who are starved of local titles while US comic books dominate the shelves. Samandal, a non-profit publisher run by volunteers, is in the middle of a crowdfunding campaign to raise $US 60,000 for future issues after three of its editors were found guilty of denigrating Christianity. “The Samandal NGO has buckled under the weight of these fines and our latest issue, ‘Geography’, looks to be our last,” says the Indiegogo campaign. “We are launching a crowdfunding campaign in a last ditch effort to help Samandal fight this unjust ruling and continue publishing comics.” Samandal’s problems began in 2010 when three of its four editors, Hatem Imam, Omar Khouri and Fadi Baki, were hauled before Lebanon’s censorship authority at the Directorate of General Security headquarters for a grilling about two comics from their seventh issue, titled ‘Revenge’. They were later charged four times under article 25 of Lebanon’s publications law for “inciting sectarian strife”, “denigrating religion”, “publishing false news” and “defamation and slander”. The…
Accused of Blasphemy, Lebanese Comic Book Combats Censorship
December 17, 2015
