Egypt TV Head, Journalist to be Tried for 'Insulting' Morsi
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Television boss Tawfiq Okasha and newspaper journalist Islam Afifi will be tried for "incitement" and insulting Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, the prosecutor's office said on Monday.
Okasha, owner of the private channel Al-Faraeen, is accused of "incitement to murder" of the Islamist president, said Adel Saeed, a spokesman for the prosecutor general.
Afifi, editor-in-chief of al-Dustour newspaper, is accused of having published "false information" deemed insulting to Morsi and which could also "undermine and destabilize" Egypt, he added.
Okasha and Afifi must appear before the Cairo criminal court, he said.
On Sunday, the prosecution imposed a travel ban on the pair, prohibiting them from traveling outside Egypt while they are being investigated for anti-Morsi remarks after complaints were lodged against them.
Okasha hosts a controversial talk show on his private television channel and is known to be staunchly anti-Islamist and opposed to Morsi, who was fielded by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party in the May-June presidential election.
Last week, authorities ordered the show off the air for a month for "incitement to murder of President Morsi and to overthrow of the government."
And on Saturday, they ordered copies of al-Dustour seized after complaints that they contained remarks deemed insulting to Morsi.
13 August 2012, 22:25
11
The King has died, Long live the King.
Is this any different from any other autocrat, whether Mubarak or Assad or whomever who cannot countenance a free press and freedom of speech?? It is the hallmark of democratic government that the governed have the God given right to criticise its government and its leaders. Afterall, the government belongs to the people. The office of President belongs to the people. The holder of the ofice, Morsi, is a temporary tenant who is there at the pleasure of the people. He is no Pharoah or King, yet he is already starting to act like one.
As I said, the King (Murbarak) is dead, so, Long live the new king (Morsi).
It is no wonder that this area of the world is backwater and will not become mainstream.
13 August 2012, 22:34
00
here we go.... let the new oppressive corrupt power-grabbing discriminating dictatorship begin....
14 August 2012, 01:56
20
The Muslim Brotherhood and their president will live their fifteen minutes of fame until the people realize what a bunch of fanatics they are taking Egypt back to the Middle Ages under the shades of a different tyranny. Unfortunately, the Islamists are a necessary swing of the pendulum after the fall of tyrants before democracy has a chance. Past Islamists the silent majority would certainly want the pendulum to rest on Democracy. Only then the next stage of the Arab Spring can begin and Lebanese have a moral and intellectual role to guide the region towards lasting freedom and democracy and develop a foundation of a Middle Eastern Union similar to the European Union so the region as a whole can benefit from its natural and human resources for progress and development instead of buying rockets and hired assassins. It is time to trust not in corrupt leaders and Zuamas, but the eternal principles of freedom, justice, human dignity and democracy.
14 August 2012, 06:55
20
So this is the new Egyptian Democracy.
Get rid of any possible opposition (the senior army officers), put journalists on trial for telling the truth about the President and the situation in the country, and you'll very quickly find out that you have a dictatorship.
14 August 2012, 09:02
10
Okasha threatened to kill Morsi on TV this is different from "insulting" this is a death threat and should be tried of course.
