A prominent Egyptian satirist has been fined millions of dollars over a dispute with a television channel which suspended his show after it made fun of military leaders, officials told AFP Tuesday.
CBC suspended the show after Bassem Youssef made jokes about Egypt's military leaders, including then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Furthermore, CBC claims Youssef "violated the editorial policies" of the channel.
The Cairo Regional Centre for International Commercial Arbitration fined Youssef and his company, Q-Soft, 50 million Egyptian pounds ($6.5 million, 5.5 million euros) each for "CBC's financial and literary losses," CBC owner Mohamed al-Amin told AFP.
The arbitration body said the weekly show was not "purposeful and constructive" but a platform for "smearing the country's political direction."
If Youssef's company does not its share of the fines, he will have to cover the cost himself.
In the midst of Sisi's crackdown on supporters of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, whom he ousted in July last year, freedom in the media has become increasingly limited.
