CAIRO: The Iranian government has banned from its markets the distribution or sale of the documentary film “Execution of a Pharaoh, which portrays the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat as a traitor and praises his assassins.
“The Iranian government doesn’t have anything to do with this film, directly or indirectly. Iran has banned the distribution and sale of the film in its markets, the London-based Al-Hayat quoted Ambassador Hussein Ragby, head of the Iranian Affairs office in Cairo in a meeting with Hussein Hareidy, assistant to the Egyptian Foreign Minister.
The Iranian documentary film portrayed Sadat as a traitor for signing the 1979 Camp David peace agreement with Israel and praised his assassin, Khaled Al-Islambouli, calling him a martyr.
Ragby added that much of the film was actually taken from other documentary films produced by an Arabic television channel.
On his part, Hariedy, who specializes in Asian affairs, thanked Ragby and the Iranian government for their effort on behalf of the Egyptian government.
The two also discussed the media in both countries. Hariedy expressed the disappointment of the Egyptian government at some of the media in Iran which mars Egyptian politics and its key figures.
On the other hand, Ragby also expressed his disappointment at some Egyptian media reports for claiming that there is a movement calling for the division of Iran.
Both parties noted that there is negative media in both countries but they won’t let that get in the way of mending Egyptian-Iranian relations.
The film has created a media frenzy and triggered a storm of condemnations from key political and social bodies in Egypt after it was broadcast on Iranian national television last July.
It was aired at a time when Egyptian-Iranian relations were thawing following scant diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran when Sadat hosted the deposed Shah.
President Hosni Mubarak summoned a senior Iranian diplomat in Cairo to explain the reason for the film while the People’s Assembly strongly condemned Iran.
“Iran’s production of a film that insults the late Egyptian leader is ridiculous behavior that harms the long history of relations between Egypt and Iran, said a statement from the PA’s Foreign Relations Committee at the time.
In addition, Al-Azhar, the leading Sunni institution, held an emergency meeting to discuss the film. Later the Islamic Research Center there called for “burning such a ridiculous film, which affronts all Egyptians, according to news reports.
