A Cairo court held a hearing session on Tuesday in a lawsuit that seeks the revoking of the BBC\u2019s office in Egypt, local media reported.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit memorandum claimed that the BBC regularly broadcasts \u2018false and fabricated news\u2019, in an effort to destabilize Egypt and deliberately distort Egypt\u2019s image especially in the field of human rights.<\/p>\n
Recently, the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters scheduled April 10 as the date for the first hearing into the lawsuit for the closure of Cairo\u2019s BBC office, and the revoking its license to operate in Egypt, state news Al-Ahram reported.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Mohamed Hamed Salem filed the initial lawsuit, coming after a BBC report entitled \u2018The shadow over Egypt\u2019, which addresses the country\u2019s human rights conditions and alleged torture.<\/p>\n
In response to the report, Egypt\u2019s official State Information Service (SIS) said that report contains \u201clies and allegations.\u201d On March 7, the SIS handed the BBC\u2019s Cairo bureau chief a \u2018protest note\u2019 over the report, which was written by BBC journalist Orla Guerin.<\/p>\n
\u201dThe author of the report, Orla Guerin aimed to impose her biased personal views and impressions through the report, she committed violations to internationally recognized professional norms, and those of the BBC itself,\u201d the SIS statement read.<\/p>\n
\u2018The Shadow over Egypt\u2019 includes interviews with families of alleged victims of torture and enforced disappearances conducted by security apparatuses.<\/p>\n
The BBC report focused on a woman which it claimed was subjected to forced disappearance by security forces. However, the SIS report noted that the BBC reporter failed to provide thorough information about the woman or to prove police involvement in the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have tried twice to contact the BBC \u2018reporter\u2019 to get information about the case, but she could not be reached, this is considered a lack of evidence for police involvement in the case,\u201d the SIS statement read.<\/p>\n
The report included the case of a young Egyptian woman alleged to have been forcibly disappeared in Egypt. The young woman, 25-year-old Zubayda Ibrahim, later appeared on Egyptian TV denying claims that she had been kidnapped or tortured by authorities.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor General Nabil Sadeq ordered the detention of Mona Mahmoud Mohamed, the mother of Ibrahim for 15 days pending investigation over fabrication charges.<\/p>\n
The mother was accused of publishing \u2018false news\u2019 which harms the national interests of the country, joining an illegal group that aims to suspend the provisions of the constitution to prevent state institutions and public authorities from carrying out their duties, as well as to assault the personal freedom of citizens, to damage national unity and social peace, to use force to bring down the regime, to disrupt public order, and to jeopardize the safety and security of society.<\/p>\n
Head of the SIS Diaa Rashwan called on Egyptian officials and the Egyptian elite to boycott the BBC and refrain from conducting interviews with its correspondents and editors until it officially apologizes for the report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Cairo court held a hearing session on Tuesday in a lawsuit that seeks the revoking of the BBC\u2019s office in Egypt, local media reported. The lawsuit memorandum claimed that the BBC regularly broadcasts \u2018false and fabricated news\u2019, in an effort to destabilize Egypt and deliberately distort Egypt\u2019s image especially in the field of human […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":82378,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7863],"tags":[2683,27530,25461,2484,36070],"class_list":["post-82371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-section","tag-bbc","tag-cairo-court","tag-diaa-rashwan","tag-egypt","tag-lawsuit"],"yoast_head":"\n