- Washington Post - 4 hours ago
- The Guardian - 50 minutes ago
Egyptian TV satirist bailed after police questioning | World news ...
www.guardian.co.uk › World news › Egypt52 mins ago – Critics damn move against Bassem Youssef, Egypt's Jon Stewart, whose show, al-Bernameg, gets more than 30 million viewers. Egyptian TV satirist released after questioning - Yahoo! News
news.yahoo.com/egyptian-tv-satirist-released-questioning-17284702...4 hours ago – From Yahoo! News: CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's most popular television satirist, who every week skewers the Islamist president and hard-line clerics ...Egyptian TV satirist appears before prosecutors - Yahoo! News
news.yahoo.com/egyptian-tv-satirist-appears-prosecutors-101256553...11 hours ago – From Yahoo! News: CAIRO (AP) — A popular television satirist known as Egypt's Jon Stewart was released on bail Sunday after nearly five ...Egyptian TV satirist released on bail after questioning on allegations ...
www.washingtonpost.com/.../egypts...tv-satirist.../dedd33d8-99eb-11...1 hour ago – CAIRO — A popular television satirist known as Egypt's Jon Stewart was released on bail Sunday after nearly five hours of interrogation over ...'Egypt's Jon Stewart' turns himself in after arrest warrant issued | Fox ...
www.foxnews.com/.../egypt-popular-tv-satirist-hands-himself-in-to-3 hours ago – A popular television satirist known as Egypt's Jon Stewart has appeared before prosecutors after an arrest warrant was issued against him for ......
Egyptian TV satirist released on bail after questioning on allegations of insulting president
(Amr Nabil/ Associated Press ) - A bodyguard secures popular Egyptian television satirist Bassem Youssef, who has come to be known as Egypt’s Jon Stewart, as he enters Egypt’s state prosecutors office to face accusations of insulting Islam and the country’s Islamist leader in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, March 31, 2013. Government opponents said the warrant against such a high profile figure, known for lampooning President Mohammed Morsi and the new Islamist political class, was an escalation in a campaign to intimidate critics.end quote from:
CAIRO — Egypt’s most popular television satirist, who every week skewers the Islamist president and hard-line clerics on his Jon Stewart-style show, was released on bail Sunday but could face charges of insulting the country’s leader and Islam.
Bassem Youssef is the most prominent critic of President Mohammed Morsi to be called in for questioning in recent weeks, in what the opposition says is a campaign to intimidate critics amid wave after wave of political unrest in deeply polarized Egypt.Images from around the world
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Arrest warrants have been issued for five prominent anti-government activists accused of instigating violence.
Deputy chief prosecutor Hassan Yassin denied the nearly five-hour interrogation was part of an intimidation campaign and said his department was enforcing the law and seeking to establish some guidelines on freedom of expression.
“The prosecution is the protector of social rights and we work on implementing the law. ... There must be guidelines for those working in the media to observe so as not violate the law,” Yassin told The Associated Press.
Morsi last week accused private media of fanning violence and argued that it was being used for political aims.
But Yassin denied that the prosecutor’s office was operating at the behest of the presidency to go after Morsi’s critics, saying it has also interrogated and sentenced Islamists. Morsi appointed the chief prosecutor late last year despite an outcry from many in the judiciary who accused him of trampling on their right to choose the top prosecutor.
A court ruling last week declared Morsi’s appointment void, a verdict he will likely appeal.
“There is no contact between us and the presidency. ... Just like we moved against someone who insults Christianity, we moved against someone who is accused of insulting Islam,” he said.
Youssef is the host of the weekly political satire show known for his skits lampooning Morsi and Egypt’s newly empowered Islamist political class. But he also mocks the opposition and the media.
The fast-paced show has attracted a wide viewership, while at the same time earning its fair share of detractors. Youssef has been a frequent target of lawsuits, most of them brought by Islamist lawyers who accused him of “corrupting morals” or violating “religious principles.”
Youssef frequently imitates Morsi’s speeches and gestures. He has fact-checked the president, and in one particularly popular episode earlier this year, he played video clips showing remarks by Morsi, made in 2010 before he became president, calling Zionists “pigs.”
The remarks caused a brief diplomatic tiff with the U.S. administration, and Morsi had to issue a statement to defuse the flap.
In his last episode this week, Youssef thanked Morsi for providing him with so much material.
Youssef has also made regular jokes about comments by Islamic clerics and presenters on Islamic TV stations, exposing contradictions between their comments and public speeches and what he considers the spirit of Islam.
Prosecutor Mohammed el-Sayed Khalifa was quoted on the website of the state-owned Al-Ahram daily that he has 28 plaintiffs in the case against Youssef accusing him of insulting Islam, mocking prayers, and “belittling” Morsi in the eyes of the world and his own people.Unfortunately, we may be witnessing the End of Free Speech in Egypt and the beginning of something as awful as Iran only done by Sunnis instead of Shia Muslims.
Bassem Youssef was on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart I believe in the last year and said during the interview that he was concerned about something like this happening in Egypt.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Egypt's Jon Stewart hassled by Morsi allies and bailed out
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