CAIRO – 30 January 2018: Sources in Al-Sharq TV channel revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood organization, officially designated as a terrorist group by the Egyptian state, offered to help Ayman Nour, owner and manager of the channel, to resolve the crisis the channel is involved in, Youm7 reported.
The channel’s staff had created a Facebook page to publicly spread their demands, including revoking the channel’s “deformed” internal regulations and objecting to firing two of its employees.
Nour was sharply blamed for suspending the live programs on the channel, without its Qatari funder's permission, the sources said, and was ordered to re-operate the channel, and compromise with the employees, Youm7 reported.
“Ayman resorted to his Muslim Brotherhood and Al-Jama'a Al-Islamiyya
(Islamic Group) allies to help him resolve the crisis, calm the Qatari side, and make the issue seem as no more than management troubles.”
Nour held a meeting, where only 30 of the employees attended, and therefore, invited some of the Muslim Brotherhood leaders and their allies in Turkey, to increase the number of the attendees, the sources told Youm7.
During the meeting, the employees were compelled to sign a document calling for the reoperation of the channel, according to the sources, to make the step appear as taken at their request.
Muslim Brotherhood called on Nour to hand over the channel’s administration to Ahmed Abdou, former executive manager of ‘Misr Ala'n’ (Egypt Now) TV channel, to carry out Nour’s policies, the sources revealed.
Misr Ala'n was an Istanbul-based, pro-Muslim Brotherhood channel that was closed in 2015, because, according to former Brotherhood leader Tarek Aboul-Saad, the brotherhood figures stopped funding the "violence inciting" channel.
On January 15, the channel’s board of directors issued a statement saying the channel’s staff did not demand anything but justice, human dignity and a professional administration that helps paving the path for opposing the regime.
The demands included in the statement that was issued from Istanbul were:
• The official announcement of a workers syndicate, in which 65 employees are registered.
• Revoking what the channel management decided on January 1 and adhering to the first nine demands of the committee that represented the whole staff.
• Revoking the channel’s “deformed” internal regulations that were set in a rush after 28 months of random work as these regulations are nothing but a list for retaliation that drives the foundation away from stability.
• Revoking the decision to dismiss our colleagues; Mijahid Ahmed and Sayed Shaker who got fired arbitrarily after the announcement of the first demands list.
• The staff appreciates the role carried out by Saif Abdel-Fatah, who had been calling for the rights of the channel’s workers, before any legitimate escalations were taken by the staff to preserve their rights.
• An invitation will be issued soon for the syndicate’s constituent meeting in the presence of a legal adviser.
• The formation of an administrative board that includes at least two workers in order to ensure their rights are preserved.
• The crisis did not end, and will not end unless the demands are met.
In addition, a previous statement issued by the channel’s workers revealed details of scams that Nour is involved in.
The statement said he purchased rickety devices for the channel, stealing the funding provided by the Muslim Brotherhood and some other foreign organizations.
It further stressed that the channel is not financially incapable; however, it suffers a case of corruption as about half of what it receives from sponsors and supporters gets stolen.
On January 23, the Egyptian Syndicate of Journalists dropped the membership of Ayman Nour for his failure to pay off the subscription financial dues.
Nour is an Egyptian lawyer, politician, a former parliamentarian, the founder of the El-Ghad party, and the leader of the Ghad Al-Thawra (Tomorrow's Revolution) party.
In January 2005, Nour was stripped of his parliamentarian immunity and was arrested over charges of forging powers of attorney to secure the formation of the El-Ghad party.
Nour was one of the September 2005 presidential election candidates during former President Hosni Mubarak’s rule; he finished second after Mubarak.
Nour also submitted his candidacy papers to run in the country’s 2012 presidential election, after Mubarak was toppled in February 2011, but was excluded due to legal reasons related to the El-Ghad party’s case.
FILE - From left, Noble peace winner Mohamed al-Baradei, founder of the National Popular Movement Hamdeen Sabahi , and lawyer Ayman Nour, former candidates of 2012 presidential election
Following massive street demonstrations in June 30, 2013, against former President Mohamed Morsi, Nour called on Morsi to resign to prevent the bloodshed.
After the ouster of Morsi on July 3, 2013, Nour fled to Turkey, where he has been a fierce critic of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and the Egyptian military since.
FILE - Former president Mohamed Morsi meets the leader of the Ghad al-Thawra (Tomorrow's Revolution) party Ayman Nour to discuss challenges Egypt faces, 2013
In April 2017, a lawsuit to strip former presidential candidate Ayman Nour of his Egyptian citizenship was filed for operating a pro-Muslim Brotherhood satellite channel. The court has dropped the case in November 2017.
In an interview with Egypt Today on Monday, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, chairperson of El-Ghad Party and last-minute presidential candidate of the 2018 election, said that Nour has sold his country and is a man with no principles or values. Nour lives in Turkey and receives funding from foreign countries, founding a satellite channel only to broadcast rumors and lies about Egypt, Moussa added.
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