ABSTRACT
Attitudes concerning life and death are at the centre of debates now taking place throughout the Middle East, and the latest developments in advanced technology have contributed to this. During the 1980s, controversies rose over the sale of organs and the professional ethics of doctors and researchers in medical laboratories.' In the 1990s, we find the question of the definition of death moving to the centre of these debates. In referring to the example of Japan, which had not at that time adopted the definition of brain death, Dr. Safivat, a central figure in the Egyptian dispute over organ transplants, did so in full knowledge that he was presenting a powefil symbol to an elite fascinated by a country which seemed to have succeeded in integrating modernity without renouncing its own traditions. In this paper I will be examining the case of Egypt with a glance at Tunisia.
