An Egyptian lawyer on Thursday filed a complaint with Attorney General Abdel Maguid Mahmoud which accused the Minister of Information and a female state television presenter of inciting thugs to attack a peaceful Coptic protest Sunday evening. The clashes, which killed 25 protesters and at least one army soldier, erupted on Sunday outside the Maspero radio and television building in downtown Cairo.
As the violence escalated between military forces and a group of mostly Coptic protesters demonstrating against sectarian attacks, questions were raised about the impartiality of Egypt’s state-run media.
Minister of Information Osama Heikal urged the media to cover the clashes “wisely.” Heikal’s statements stirred controversy among media experts and journalists, amid renewed calls to purge the media, which explains why Maspero, the site of Egyptian state television, is also the site of continued protests.
Hamdi al-Assuiti, a lawyer at the Supreme Constitutional Court, said, “Our Coptic brothers held a peaceful protest but unfortunately encountered shooting by armed forces stationed outside the television building."
In the lawsuit, Assuiti accused Egyptian state television presenters, and in particular Rasha Magdy Rasekh, who falls under the responsibility of the Minister of Information, of broadcasting false information, including the alleged death of army soldiers stationed outside Maspero building.
He explained that the false news transformed the peaceful protest into a clash between unarmed demonstrators on one side and the armed forces and police on the other. He added that armed thugs chased the protesters and beat them, and that some of the thugs who infiltrated the protest incited them to burn and destroy a number of civilian and army vehicles.
In the lawsuit, he added that the claim that Christians were attacking the armed forces “was, in fact, the intentional broadcast of false news, information and rumors, which disturbed public security, cast terror among the public, and harmed the public interest.”
Translated from the Arabic Edition
