Egyptian Court Throws Out Petition To Ban Satirical Show

A Cairo court has rejected a petition by an Islamist lawyer to ban a satirical show for insulting the Egyptian president.

The suit was filed by a Muslim Brotherhood lawyer who complained that the programme, which has been likened to The Daily Show hosted by Jon Stewart in the US, had excessive sexual innuendo and was critical of the president, Mohamed Morsi, who is also a member of the Brotherhood.

Judge Hassouna Tawfiq said that the lawsuit against Bassem Youssef’s El-Bernameg, (The Programme), was dropped because the plaintiff did not have a direct interest in the case.

Chief Brotherhood lawyer, Abdel-Moneim Maqsoud, said the plaintiff, Mahmoud Abul-Enein, had brought the case on his own, without involving the Islamist group.

There have been multiple complaints filed in courts and to state prosecutors by Islamist lawyers against Youssef and other public figures for their political or religious opinions.

Opposition groups and activists say such lawsuits against public figures are part of a wider campaign to intimidate critics of the new government.

Youssef was interrogated this week in a separate case for allegedly insulting Islam and Morsi which was criticised by western governments and human rights groups.

The president’s office said it was not involved in the investigation, and that it recognises the “importance of freedom of expression.”

Brotherhood lawyer Abul-Enein filed the suit demanding the suspension of the licence of the private satellite TV channel, the Capital Broadcasting Centre, which broadcasts the show. He claimed Youssef’s program “corrupted morals” and violated religious principles.

Undeterred by the charges against him, Youssef was back on the air on Friday poking fun at the international publicity he received after lampooning the Egyptian president.

“Not everything has to be about the president. This isn’t fear. I am not pulling back,” he said on the show.

Youssef then said sarcastically that after his visit to the attorney general, he had decided not to talk on the show about Morsi, but just the attorney general. The television audience erupted in applause and laughter.

Then Youssef spent a good part of his show ridiculing both the attorney general and the president.

Responding to a member of Morsi’s Brotherhood party who said in a news clip that Youssef only focuses on the Islamist group and the president, he joked: “They are not two things. They are one.”

It was a way of mocking the president’s insistence that his policy decisions are made independent of the Brotherhood.

Guardian