Lawyer demands TV series’ suspension for insulting Sisi

CAIRO – 12 June 2017: A scene from Ramadan series “La Touttfe’ El Shams” insulting President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi caused uproar on social media after it was aired Friday.

The scene was between the series’ main love interests, Adam, played by Ahmed Malik, and Habiba, played by Mai El Gheiti. As Adam and Habiba were walking together, the phrase in question appeared as on the wall behind them.

Anger over the writing pushed the publishing channel, CBC Egypt, to delete the episode from YouTube and re-upload it after deleting the offending scene. Beelink company, the show’s production company apologized to the audience for the “unintended mistake” in the montage of Episode 14.

CBC also issued a statement that was aired on-screen, offering its sincere apology to all its viewers for “this mistake that led to the appearance of this sentence in the background of the scene that raised public discontent.” The statement said the sentence was leftover from the “destructive words” Muslim Brotherhood members used to write on walls.

Egyptian lawyer Samir Sabry submitted a notice to Attorney General Nabil Sadeq Saturday demanding the suspension of “La Touttfe’ El Shams.” Samir’s complaint says the series director, Mohamed Shaker Khodeir, presented a “despicable and humiliating image” of senior Egyptian officials by the use of expressions that were previously produced by Muslim Brotherhood.

Sabry also criticized Khodeir for giving an important role to Malek, who previously “affronted the Egyptian National Police on its anniversary.” At the end of his complaint Sabry demanded Khodeir appear before an urgent trial for “committing the crime of insulting the Egyptian President.”

“La Touttfe’ El Shams” is a social series adapted from a novel by Ihsan Abdel Quddous. The series was directed by Mohamed Shaker Khodeir and the script was written by Tamer Habib.