The High Elections Commission (HEC) referred a complaint filed by Egyptian Information Minister Anas al-Fiqqi against US-based satellite TV channel al-Hurra to the public prosecutor for further investigation into what he described as the violation of a temporary ban on electoral propaganda.
Al-Fiqqi previously declared Saturday a day of special campaign restrictions, imploring the media to follow the law and the regulations set by the commission.
For his part, head of al-Hurra’s Cairo office Tarek al-Shami expressed astonishment with what he described as “questioning of the channels objectivity.” Referring to the day of special campaign restrictions, he added that he had informed HEC officials that the channel intended to broadcast the episode from the series "Cairo Conversation" early Saturday morning and that the episode was a re-run of Friday’s episode on women's quota seats.
Expressing anger that the case had been referred to the public prosecutor, he questioned why the state-run daily Al-Ahram was not being investigated for publishing a third page campaign ad on Saturday in violation of HEC edicts.
Al-Shami noted that the channel had previously broadcast the National Democratic Party and HEC’s conferences live, interviewed a number of NDP candidates, paid tribute to President Mubarak and his son Gamal Mubarak, and conducted an interview with Parliamentary Speaker Fathi Surour.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
