Egyptian Satirist applauds freedom of expression during Morsi's era

Egyptian satirist, Bassem Yousef, has said that he had tried to convince himself that his country’s ruling regime had not intervened to suspend his show but failed. Yousef said, during his first televised appearance since November when CBC Channel suspended his satirical show el Bernameg, “the Program”, “I honestly believe the regime has nothing to do with it, but it has to convince the people otherwise. Perhaps the regime has created a climate that supports suspending shows so that people do not sympathise with me when the show is then suspended”.

Yousef said “The fact is that I made 30 episodes during the Muslim Brotherhood and the former President Mohamed Morsi era. Yet, despite all objections the program was not stopped. But under the current regime, the show was stopped after one episode. To suspend the show is a personal insult to me and my crew. It has created a big gap between the show and the channel which affects its credibility even if the show resumed at the same channel. The channel has hurt itself, the show, Egypt’s Presidency and the military institutions which both deny their involvement in suspending the show. I would like to believe that the reason was not political, but I cannot convince anyone because the nature of the situation does not encourage such theory.”