Cabinet plans to face "foreign private channels" which harm "Egypt's reputation"

Sunday 09-11-2014 05:12 PM
Cabinet plans to face
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CAIRO, Nov 9 (Aswat Masriya) – Egypt's cabinet vowed on Sunday to develop a plan to face "foreign private channels" which commit practices that "harm Egypt economically, religiously, socially and politically."

Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb met with the ministers of communications, justice and foreign affairs, as well as the heads of the Media Production City, the Egyptian Radio and Televison Union and the NileSat, and representatives from the Federation of Egyptian Industries, a cabinet statement read.

The attendants accused certain channels which broadcast on foreign satellites of "targeting Egypt's reputation and spreading rumours against it," according to the statement. They added that such channels "broadcast material which could harm Egypt's system of values and traditions" and its "religious beliefs".

Other channels, the attendants said, commit acts of piracy against Egyptian films and shows.

The cabinet statement failed to mention examples of the channels it referred to.

Egypt's administrative court banned on September 3 the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Rabaa satellite channel and the Qatari al-Jazeera's Egyptian channel and ordered Egypt's NileSat Satellite to halt the channels' broadcast.

The lawyer who filed the lawsuit, Samir Sabry, had accused Rabaa channel of broadcasting "false and misleading" news on Egypt to "incite protects and encourage students to … commit violent acts to cripple the educational process."

Another lawyer, Mamdouh Tamam, had called for closing down the Jazeera Egyptian Channel, Jazeera Mubasher Misr, for "spreading anti-June 30 revolution news."

Jazeera challenged on Saturday the court ruling at the Supreme Administrative court.

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