Calls to cancel Ramadan TV show that ‘promotes torture’

Mental health officials have asked that a popular Ramadan show be cancelled after accusations that it normalises torture.

Every year for the holy month Ramez Galal hosts a show with a new theme, this year’s being “Ramez Magnoun Rasmi” (Ramez is officially crazy.)

It opened with what appears to be a talk show in Dubai. Egyptian actress Ghada Adel is strapped into a moving chair where she is interrogated about other celebrities and threatened with electrocution if she does not call herself a dog.

Ramez then puts her into a tank of water and throws snakes at the actress. It is unclear whether Ghada understands it’s a prank and is just acting, or whether she believes she’s on a reality TV show.

Doctors at the Abbasiyah mental hospital have called on the attorney general to ban the show due to the “violence, torture and bullying,” describing it as a “psychological threat” to Egyptians who are already traumatised by the coronavirus crisis they are living through.

“We found the TV show to contain a lot of violence, torture, mockery and disrespect for guests, as well as savouring the pain caused to others in a way that defies humanity,” the hospital said in a statement.

READ: Calls in Egypt for censored social media after arrests of TikTok star, belly dancer

NGOs Safe Children and 7emayaa Children have described the show as dangerous and said that it promotes bullying and normalises torture whilst the media syndicate has asked the network to axe it on the grounds that it is an affront to human rights.

MP, lawyer and president of Zamalek football club, Mortada Mansour, sent a warning to the interior minister asking him to arrest Ramez and send him to a psychiatric hospital.

It’s unclear how the interior ministry will respond since their national security agency use torture systematically to force suspects and detainees to confess, give up information and to punish them, as is well documented by numerous human rights organisations.

The network which hosts the show, Saudi MBC, has responded to criticism by saying that the actress had given her approval.

Ramez’s show is one of the most popular Ramadan programmes with millions of viewers and hits on YouTube which means it hosts the most expensive advertising spots.

The TV host is no stranger to controversy. In the past he took the American socialite Paris Hilton on a flight over Dubai and convinced her it was going to crash; he put Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan in quicksand and attacked Egyptian dancer Fifi Abdou dressed in a gorilla suit.

READ: Ramadan in the time of Coronavirus