TV drama axed after complaints (Reuters)

RIYADH (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has stopped a Ramadan soap opera after complaints in Saudi that it was stoking ancient tribal rivalries, Arab media reported this week.

The UAE official news agency WAM said Monday that President Khalifa bin Zayed had ordered Abu Dhabi Television to end broadcasts of "Saadoun al-Awajy," which had been running nightly throughout the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan "in response to appeals by several Arab tribes."

Saudi authorities have been concerned about a resurgence of tribal sentiment in recent years.

Government in Saudi Arabia is tribal in nature, centered on the rule of the Al Saudi family and their allies, and the state has had difficulty carving out a national identity since it was formed in 1932 under the name of its Saudi rulers.

Saudi-owned website Elaph said a Saudi official visited the UAE Monday with a letter from King Abdullah asking for the historical drama, set from 1750-1830, to be cancelled following lobbying by descendents of tribesman depicted in the serial.

There was no official confirmation of the Saudi request but Saudi media have been reporting tribal anger for weeks. "Who benefits from digging up the graves of our ancestors?" commentator Mohammed al-Rutyan wrote in al-Watan daily.

Elaph said this was the second soap opera to be axed this year over fears of stirring up tribal animosities after Saudi-owned MBC shelved "Finjan al-Dam" (Cup of Blood).

"Saadoun al-Awajy" concerns a well-known tribal war between the Shammar and Unaiza tribes in what is now northern Saudi Arabia, at a time when the territory of the Saudi royal family was expanding in the southern Najd near modern Riyadh.

The main character in the Syrian-made show is an Unaiza tribal leader who pleads with his sons not to kill a minor Shammar tribesman who has been stealing fine horses and camels.

Before he dies, the tribesman composes a poem -- famous among Arab tribes -- calling on his kinsmen in Iraq to come and avenge his blood. The Unaiza today are found in northern Saudi Arabia but the Shammar extend into Iraq and Syria.

Turki al-Rashid, a prominent Shammar businessman, praised the series saying it was the kind of historical drama that appealed to Gulf Arabs rather than the Egyptian and Levantine material that dominates in the Arab world.

"It's a fuss about nothing. I'm bothered if it's true that the government got involved," he said. "At the end of the day such a drama was a money opportunity."

(editing by Elizabeth Piper)

Source

Related Posts by Categories