The prosecutor-general in Egypt has ruled that a case against the feminist writer, Nawal el-Saadawi, on charges of apostasy will be heard in court.

The case is being brought by a conservative lawyer , Nabih el-Wahsh, who's also called for Dr el-Saadawi's husband to divorce her on the grounds that she's deserted Islam.

The charges relate to an interview by Dr el-Saadawi in which she was quoted as calling the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca , the Haj, a vestige of paganism. She was also quoted as calling for the abolition of an Islamic inheritance law in Egypt that gives female heirs half what men receive. Her husband said they'd not been informed of the decision, but -- if true -- it'd be a licence to kill her. Islamists initially won a similar case against a university professor in 1995, ordering him to divorce his wife on the grounds of apostasy, but subsequently lost the case on appeal.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service