A popular television satirist known as Egypt’s Jon Stewart was released on bail Sunday after nearly five hours of interrogation over allegations that he broke the law by insulting Islam and the president.
Bassem Youssef is the most prominent critic of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to be called in for questioning in recent weeks in what the opposition says is a campaign to intimidate critics amid wave after wave of political unrest in deeply polarized Egypt.
Arrest warrants have been issued for five prominent anti-government activists accused of instigating violence.
Deputy chief prosecutor denied the interrogation was part of an intimidation campaign and said his department was enforcing the law and seeking to establish some guidelines on freedom of expression.
“The prosecution is the protector of social rights and we work on implementing the law. … There must be guidelines for those working in the media to observe so as not violate the law,” Hassan Yassin said.
Morsi last week accused private media of promoting violence and argued that it was being used for political aims.
But Yassin denied that the prosecutor’s office was operating at the behest of the presidency to go after Morsi critics, saying it has also interrogated and sentenced Islamists.
“There is no contact between us and the presidency. … Just like we moved against someone who insults Christianity, we moved against someone who is accused of insulting Islam,” he said.
Youssef is the host of the weekly political satire show known for his skits lampooning Morsi and Egypt’s newly empowered Islamist political class. But he also mocks the opposition and the media.
The fast-paced show has attracted a wide viewership, while at the same time earning its fair share of detractors. Youssef has been a frequent target of lawsuits, most of them brought by Islamist lawyers who accused him of “corrupting morals” or violating “religious principles.”
Youssef frequently imitates Morsi’s speeches and gestures. He has fact-checked the president, and in one particularly popular episode earlier this year, he played video clips showing remarks by Morsi, made in 2010 before he became president, calling Zionists “pigs.”
The remarks caused a brief diplomatic tiff with the U.S. administration, and Morsi had to issue a statement to defuse the flap.
In his last episode last week, Youssef thanked Morsi for providing him with so much material.
Youssef has also made regular jokes about comments by Islamic clerics and Islamic stations TV presenters, exposing contradictions between their comments and public speeches and what he considers the spirit of Islam.
Prosecutor Mohammed el-Sayed Khalifa was quoted on the website of the state-owned Al-Ahram daily that he has 28 plaintiffs in the case against Youssef accusing him of insulting Islam, mocking prayers, and “belittling” Morsi in the eyes of the world and his own people.
The plaintiffs are mostly regular citizens, according to Shaimaa Abul-Kheir, a representative of the New-York based Committee to Protect Journalists who was allowed to attend the interrogation.
In remarks to a TV presenter on CBC, the private station that airs his program, Youssef said on Saturday that his program does not insult Islam but aims to expose those who “distort” it.
When asked if programs in Egypt should be less scathing than those of the West, Youssef said: “We will give (the West) an example of how freedoms are respected after the revolution,” he said of the 2011 uprising that ousted longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.
After turning himself in for questioning, Youssef first tweeted a series of quips from the prosecutor’s office.
“They asked me the color of my eyes. Really,” one said.
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