Court bans Islam Behery's TV program

CAIRO - 29 October 2017: The Administrative Court ruled Sunday to suspend the TV anchor Islam Behery and prevent him from appearing on TV. Behery is accused by the grand imam of Al Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayyib, of blasphemy against the religion of Islam.

The court’s rule includes banning airing all old episodes of Behery’s TV show ‘Ma’a Islam (with Islam). On Al-Kahera Wel Nas TV channel, which he used to criticize Islamic clerics and imams.

Tayyib’s lawsuit claimed that Behery used the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution to attack Islamic law and criticize Islamic figures with baseless evidences. His criticisms were considered disrespectful to all imams and damaging to the nation’s heritage.

Behery was acquitted by a presidential pardon, after serving a one-year prison sentence on charges of defaming religion. He produced a series of episodes dedicated to criticizing a number of Sunni clerics like Ibn Taymiyyah and al-Bukhary. The court issued a five-year sentence against Behery on November 30, 2015, and then reduced the sentence in December 2015.