Author calls for Blair to go on trial

AN Author at the Edinburgh International Book Festival has called for former Prime Minister Tony Blair to be tried for his role in the Iraq war.

Ahdaf Soueif from Egypt was applauded when she made the call, which was backed by Libyan novelist Hisham Matar, who added: “We must be careful when we address justice symbolically as so many people are responsible.”

The authors were participating in an event chaired by BBC Correspondent and Book Festival Guest Selector Allan Little, on the theme of Revolution in the 21st Century: North Africa.

Matar and Soueif discussed dictatorship and democracy, the Arab Spring uprisings, and their experiences, in a conversation that ranged across Libya, Syria, Palestine, Tunisia and Egypt.

Soueif also discussed Palestine, and the hope that as a result of the Arab Spring events, the situation in Palestine was becoming a world issue.