Bibliotheca Alexandrina director slammed for firing poet

Calls to boycott activities at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) have been circulating on Facebook and Twitter in response to Director Ismail Serageldin’s decision to dismiss poet Omar Hazeq from the BA, who was sentenced to two years in jail for violating the Protest Law. 

Hazeq and six other Alexandrian activists, including members of the April 6 Youth Movement, were arrested while protesting in front of the Alexandria Criminal Court late November during the retrial of police members accused of killing Khaled Saeed. The activists were accused of breaking the controversial Protest Law and were sentenced to two years imprisonment and a LE50,000 fine each by the Alexandria Misdemeanor Court.

Serageldin, who has served as head of the BA since its opening in 2002, issued a decision to dismiss Hazeq earlier in April. The legal note released by the management attributed the decision to “the nature of [Hazeq's] 'crime', which is a misdemeanor that disturbs internal state security.” 

The Bibliotheca’s bylaws, however, state that only cases involving violations of moral turpitude can be used as grounds for dismissing staff.

Members of the independent union for workers at the BA condemned the decision made by the administration, calling it “arbitrary,” since it violates the regulations governing work inside the BA, privately owned Youm7 daily reported. 

According to the statement released on Friday, Article 44 of the bylaws sets nine reasons for termination of staff service, the eighth of which is “sentencing a staff member to a criminal penalty, or imprisonment in a misdemeanor involving violation of moral turpitude or dishonesty.” 

Meanwhile, a number of artists and intellectuals signed a petition condemning Serageldin's decision, calling for a boycott of the Bibliotheca's activities in response, privately owned Al-Bedaiah news website reported. 

A statement released by the signatories said that “on December 2, 2013, poet Omar Hazeq joined a protest outside court during the trial of Khaled Saeed’s murderers. Without Saeed, Mubarak would still have been president, Adly would still be an executioner, Tantawi a defense minister and Sisi a director of military intelligence.”

The statement, which was signed by prominent figures such as filmmaker Hala Lotfy and novelist Saad al-Kersh, continued, "Had Mubarak been able to overcome the Friday of Anger, Ismail Serageldin would’ve held seminars and conferences praising the wisdom of the leader, his ability to manage crisis and overcome the chaos that almost destroyed the future of Egypt.” 

The signatories believe that although the January 25 revolution was a temporary success, it still failed to implement freedom, which is “evident in the imprisonment of poet Omar Hazeq for two years, while the murderers of the January 25 revolution remain free.” 

They also accused Serageldin of being too quick to dismiss Hazeq instead of supporting him, “to compliment those who wrote the Protest Law in the absence of a parliament.” They demanded a retrial of the defendants, “with all confidence in the innocence of Omar Hazeq and his peers.”

Kersh told Al-Bedaiah that the decision was “an exploitation of a person’s illness and imprisonment to settle old accounts and disagreements. Dismissing Hazeq is moral degeneration.”

The independent union for workers at the BA made similar accusations, adding that "It’s not too far fetched for the situation to be related to the stances Hazeq and his colleagues at the BA took against Director Ismail Serageldin, who’s still being tried over squandering public money for the past two years.” 

A number of BA staff had filed a report against Serageldin  accusing him of squandering public money through needlessly assigning overpaid advisors and embezzling donations. 

On March 31, Alexandria Misdemeanor Court postponed the trial of Serageldin until April 28, pending the filing of expert reports. 

Hazeq’s sister had told privately owned Masrawy news website that she believed that his stance on fighting corruption inside the Bibliotheca since 2011 is the real reason behind dismissing him. She added that Hazeq, who had worked at the BA for over seven years and is currently writing his second book inside prison, had been expecting it, and asked on every visit they made, “Haven’t they fired me yet?”