#BooksellingIsNotACrime

Bookselling is not a crime: Support for the Educational Bookshop

Join us today as we stand in solidarity with the Educational Bookshop.

We’ve partnered with Pluto Press, Verso Books, the Lighthouse Bookshop in Edinburgh and a network of indie bookshops and booksellers around the world to celebrate the right to read and sell books freely under the banner #BooksellingIsNotACrime.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

If you’re a reader:

• Follow the hashtag #BooksellingIsNotACrime to see which bookshops are participating
• Share the Educational Bookshop fundraiser
• Pop into your local bookshop on #BooksellingIsNotACrime day – buy a book, take a pic and post the hashtag yourself
• Tag your favourite bookstores online and stand in solidarity with booksellers around the world

If you’re a bookseller:

• Get involved! Email campaigns@saqibooks.com (who we are working with) for more details, suggested social media copy and visual assets
• Post pictures of your bookshop celebrating #BooksellingIsNotACrime day
• Encourage your customers on the day to do the same… as well as buy a book!
• Post the story of the Muna family online using the hashtag #BooksellingIsNotACrime

Lynn Gaspard from Saqi Books said, ‘Every day booksellers, librarians, publishers and writers are censored in almost every country around the world. Some are jailed, some see their work banned and others are driven out of business by subtler means. We must rally to protect the freedom to read, which means the freedom to run a bookshop. Booksellers are not criminals.’

Make sure you’re following us on Instagram, Facebook and BlueSky to see how booksellers around the world are getting involved.

We’ve also created a GoFundMe campaign in support of the Educational Bookshop. Donations will go towards:

• Replacing the books that were seized during the arrest
• Fixing material damages done to the bookshop
• Payment to interim booksellers until Mahmoud and Ahmad are allowed to return to work (one of the terms of their release is that they cannot return to bookselling for a minimum of 20 days

At 3pm on 9 February 2025, booksellers Mahmoud and Ahmad Muna were arrested by undercover Israeli police. They were handcuffed and taken to prison, where they were blindfolded and kept in handcuffs for two days. Over 250 books were confiscated, including books by Rachel Shabi, Noam Chomsky and a children’s colouring book, From the River to the Sea. A copy of Haaretz, the longest running newspaper printed in Israel, was also taken. Some of the books have since been returned.

The charge against Mahmoud and Ahmad was initially ‘inciting and supporting terrorism’, though it was later amended to ‘disturbing the public order’. Two days later, on 11 February, Mahmoud and his nephew Ahmad were released under house arrest with strict terms, including that they cannot undertake bookshop work for at least a month.

A spokesperson from the family said, ‘the arrests were harrowing. However, the support has been overwhelming and we are so grateful to this kindness of friends and strangers. Ahmad represents the third generation of Muna booksellers. We look forward to many more years staying in the bookselling business.’

The arrest has caused international outcry with coverage in the BBC, CNN and Guardian, among others.

For more information, please contact campaigns@saqibooks.com. You can learn more about the campaign here.