This is the most famous photograph of Egyptian nationalist leader and prime minister Saad Zaghloul, one of the most important Egyptians of the 20th century. This is the highest resolution version of the photograph I was able to find. -- BomBom (talk)
Request I am almost ready to support this candidate: the scope is OK, the image is well documented and sourced. I've managed to find the source image in Memory of Modern Egypt website, requesting سعد زغلول into the search box. However, I wonder if it could be a copyright issue. The permission box say: "In order to be hosted on Commons, all works must be in the public domain in the United States as well as in their source country" and add "Other works with an identifiable author [it's the case here] : Copyright has expired in Egypt if the author died prior to 1960; Copyright has expired in the U.S. if the author died prior to 1946". As the photographer (W. Hanselman) was active in the 1920s, he could have been still alive in 1946 ou even in 1960. So we need to know the author's death date. --Myrabella (talk) 12:07, 25 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Comment Actually, if you look at the license tag carefully, this photograph corresponds to the first type of work ("Non-creative photographic or audiovisual works"), which means that it is PD since it was published before 1981. The template's page makes it clear that creativity is defined in Egyptian law not in terms of artistic value, but in terms of faithfulness. As long as a photograph is a simple mechanical reproduction of the object depicted (i.e. no extensive image editing or photo manipulation), it is deemed non-creative. --BomBom (talk) 16:52, 25 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Comment Following the link given in the permission infoxbox, one can read in the Egyptian Intellectual Property Law 82 of 2002, Article 140: "Protection under this Law is conferred to authors of literary and artistic works, and particularly the following works: [...] (10) Photographic and similar works." --Myrabella (talk) 20:13, 25 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Comment One argument is that the copyright of this photograph has expired because it could be considered as a non-creative photographic work with a shorter protection period according to the Egyptian Copyright Law 354 of 1954. But as far as I can read, not all photographs should be considered as non-creative works under the terms of this previous law. So an opposite argument is that this photograph is an authored creative work, protected by the 2002 Law, and probably by the 1954 one too. Actually, it isn't any photograph: this is the most famous photograph of one of the most important Egyptians of the 20th century (i.e. one of the most famous Egyptian photographs indeed). It isn't a simple mechanical reproduction of something (by the way, one doesn't read "portrait" among the meanings of the word manāzer (مناظر) in its definition on Wiktionary). It is a carefully composed portrait, with a delibarate control of the light and the depth of field; that pleads for the creative intention. Moreover, it is "one of the most recognizable works" of its author. So it seems difficult to maintain that it is a "non-creative photographic work" (categ #1 of PD Egypt); it rather belongs to the category "Other works with an identifiable author" (and with a longer time of copyright protection) IMO. --Myrabella (talk) 09:42, 26 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Comment Without the author's death date, it seems impossible to determine whether or not this photograph is PD. I thus think it's better to close this nomination. I will do some research to try to find when the author died, and once the photograph's copyright status is clarified, I will resubmit it for VIC. Regards. --BomBom (talk) 03:02, 27 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
