T.V. anchor referred to court for 'insulting' Upper Egyptians over their large families

CAIRO – 20 February 2021: T.V. anchor Tamer Amin has been referred to a misdemeanor court for a session on March 20 for “insulting Upper Egyptians” in a comment deemed discriminatory.

Amin said recently in his T.V. show that people in Upper Egypt and the countryside have many children just so they provide for their parents later on, without considering giving them proper education.

His comment came amid a campaign by Dar al-Iftaa that emphasizes that family planning is allowed and even commendable in Islam.

Amin has since unequivocally apologized to Upper Egyptians and everyone who was offended, saying “I apologize when I feel people are upset with me, even if my intention, God knows, was good and my goal was public interest.”

The Egyptian Media Syndicate ordered on Friday suspending TV presenter Tamer Amin from practicing any media-related work and referring him to investigation over his “objectionable” remarks on Upper Egypt.

The Supreme Council for Media Regulation (SCMR) also decided to suspend Amin’s talk show, aired on Al-Nahar channel, for using language, seen as abusive and inappropriate, against Upper Egypt and rural area dwellers.

“If you reached to the original video of the show, [you would find that] I was speaking on a small group of people who give eight or 9 or 10 births as a mean to earn a living,” he said, in a bid to ease the state of anger.

“This is what I have said. We slam this group who unfortunately do not secure the childhood rights,” he added.

Amin's remarks came shortly after President Abdel Fattah El Sisi warned against overpopulation on Tuesday, saying that people would only feel the results of developmental efforts made by the state when annual population growth rate in Egypt is reduced to 400,000 people.