The project of Iranian film 'the execution of the pharaoh' about the assassination of the late President Anwar Sadat stirred wide controversy among Egyptian pundits and cinema professionals, as well as Sadat's family.
They all expressed their indignation of the Iranian film, which was showed on the sidelines of the festival of the international committee to honor martyrs of Islamic renaissance.
The film of the execution of the pharaoh points out that the reason of assassination is that the 'traitor', as the film describes the late president, signed Camp David treaty.
The film showed what he called the 'revolutionary assassination of the Egyptian traitor president by the martyr Khalid Islambouli'. The one-hour film displayed testimonies of politicians and security experts of the incident and parts of the assassination process.
Sadat's family, meanwhile, threatened to sue the producers of the Iranian film. Ruqaia Sadat, daughter of late president, said to al-Masry al-Youm that film producers should have taken the prior approval of the family. She stressed that any slander will be met with a strong reaction.
Talaat Sadat, niece of late president, criticized Iran and said that all Tehran's actions toward the late president are 'magian'; and that producing a film like that is a wicked attempt to tarnish the image of the man and falsify history.
Pundits and cinema professionals expressed their indignation of the film. Mamdouh el-Leithi, chief of cinema syndicate, described the Iranian film as 'impolite' and said; "The film shows lies."
He indicated; "Iranians should reconsider showing the film, as Sadat was a real hero; had it not been for Sadat, we would not have restored Sinai. What Sadat achieved with Israel is now sought by Syria, Palestine and other states which objected to Sadat's decision. Sadat was rather the most courageous as he went to the Knesset.
Scenarist Wahid Hamid said; "The film is for propaganda and should not be treated as an artistic work. It is produced based on a state's politics. This is the Iranian's point of view for so long, as they named one of the streets after Islambouli".
He added; "The Iranian film does not need a diplomatic response, but rather an artistic work to refute such claims". He expected that the film clamor will end within the next days.
For his side, a top leader of the Islamic group organization, which participated in the assassination of Sadat, declared the organization rejection of describing Sadat as traitor, stressing that he was the great man of October victory. He said that Khalid Islambouli, killer of Sadat, was a righteous man and killed the president thinking it was the right thing.
But the group sees now that if days were to come back, such things would have never happened. He added that Sadat was the only president who gave great freedom on his own to Islamic movements but the movement did not utilize such freedom at best.
