Why are Fifty Shades of Grey sequels being pulled from UAE shelves?

Fans of a best-selling erotic novel will not be seeing the second and third instalments of the trilogy after copies of the book have been withdrawn from the nation's bookshops.
Staff at major book sellers say all three instalments of the Fifty Shades trilogy penned by the British author E L James, were available for purchase until about a month ago, when the final two instalments - Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, were removed from shelves.
However, the first book in the series, Fifty Shades of Grey, which has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide since being published in May 2011 to become the fastest-selling paperback of all time, remains on sale.
Sales staff suggested that the graphic sexual content of the trilogy had led to the sequels being banned.
But the National Media Council (NMC), the government authority overseeing censorship, denies imposing any ban on the book, noting that stores that choose not to sell them do so of their own accord.
A saleswoman at the Borders store in Mall of the Emirates said the two books were removed after a complaint.
"We used to sell books two and three, but then we stopped," she said. "The customers who came to our shop before were lucky."
She said that the first book had sold out, but that the company's branch in Ibn Battuta Mall still had some copies left.
A saleswoman at Magrudy's in Abu Dhabi's Al Wadha Mall said they were "still waiting" for books two and three. "They're banned. We don't know when we will get them," she said.
At Book World by Kinokuniya, in Dubai Mall, a saleswoman said the store was "not allowed" to sell the final instalments. The first book is No1 in the store's weekly bestsellers list. "We don't have the other two, but the first one is very popular."
Virgin Megastore, which has a large display of the first book in Abu Dhabi Mall, said the second and third books "have not been granted approval in the UAE at the moment".
Iain Paul Martin, Virgin's regional senior books buyer, said all the store's books required an approval certificate from the department of media content at the NMC.
"In this case, books 2 and 3 of the Grey trilogy have not been granted the certificate," he said.
Mr Martin added: "Without legal permission to sell these books, Virgin Megastore will not be ordering them."
"We do not censor books. It's up to the bookshops who can decide to ban the books," said Ibrahim Al Abed, the director general of the NMC, who stressed that the council had "nothing to do with these things".
Karen Hancock, a 29-year-old Australian who lives in Abu Dhabi, said she had bought the second and third books at an overseas airport.
"They're quite graphic, so I can see why they chose to ban it here. However, the books are adults' books and only adults will read them, so what's the harm?" she asked.
molson@thenational.ae