Farouk Hosny

Farouk Hosny (or Hosni) (; born 1938) is an Egyptian abstract painter who was Minister of Culture from 1987 to 2011.

Early life and career Hosny was born and grew up in Alexandria. He graduated from Alexandria University's School of Fine Arts in 1964 and upon graduation directed the Al-Anfoushi Cultural Palace for several years. An abstract painter, Hosny held exhibitions worldwide and won the Japanese Soka Gakai International University cultural and peace prize.

Between 1971-1978, he was Egypt's cultural attaché in Paris and from 1979 to 1987 served in the same position in Rome, where he also was the director of the Egyptian Academy of Arts. ), the Nubian Museum in Aswan and the Alexandria National Museum (under construction are the Grand Egyptian Museum and the National Museum of Civilisation in Fustat) and the Cultural Development Fund. Cultural Animator in the General Department of Fine Arts, Ministry of Culture (1964–1969)

Censorship Hosny has also censored some media and films, including banning of a heavy metal music concert and arresting its fans, as well as banning the Israeli film The Band's Visit from being screened at the Cairo International Film Festival.

UNESCO candidacy On July 30, 2007, Egypt nominated Hosny to succeed Koichiro Matsuura as Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and began a campaign to have him elected to the position. No Arab had previously held the position. Hosni was regarded as certain to win the September 2009 election, but his May 2008 pledge to burn Israel books in Egyptian libraries sparked doubts about his suitability for the position and strengthened opposition to his candidacy. Three Jewish intellectuals and activists—Bernard-Henri Lévy, Claude Lanzmann, and Elie Wiesel—led a campaign to oppose Hosny's election. In a May 2009 open letter to the international community, the three figures decried that Hosny's victory "would be an obvious provocation so transparently contrary to the proclaimed ideals of the UN that UNESCO would not recover." They implored, "We must, without delay, appeal to everyone's conscience to keep UNESCO from falling into the hands of a man who, when he hears the word 'culture,' responds with a book burning." On censorship grounds, Reporters Without Borders also opposed Hosny, stating, "This minister of Hosni Mubarak has been one of the main actors of censorship in Egypt, unfailingly trying to control press freedom as well as citizens' freedom of information." and a group of influential Jews, possible referring to Lévy, Lanzmann, and Wiesel who strongly opposed him. He criticized the US Ambassador at UNESCO, David Killion, for derailing his election and stated, "The north always has to control the south."