Egypt’s Media Free Zone administration has banned controversial Egyptian television show host Tawfik Okasha from appearing on any television channel for six months for committing “violations against media freedoms.” Okasha’s television show, which appears on his channel Al-Fareen, was also suspended, reported state-media Al-Ahram. The decision to ban Okasha from television comes after the controversial television personality announced on television that he would resign from parliament and seek political asylum in Germany. Okasha’s decision to ‘seek asylum in Germany’ comes amid his claims that Egypt’s security apparatuses have been “working against the country’s interests” and had been harassing him. Okasha, who ran as an independent in Egypt’s parliamentary elections and secured more than 90,000 votes in his electoral constituency, claimed that the government’s actions against him led him to request political asylum at the German Embassy in Cairo. The parliamentarian claims that the government had been preventing him and a number of other parliamentarians from forming a parliamentary bloc for independents. On Saturday, Okasha said that Egypt’s Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Magdi El-Agati prevented him from holding a meeting with other independent members of parliament at the House of Representatives. Okasha…
Controversial Egyptian Host Tawfik Okasha Banned from Television, Seeks Asylum in Germany
December 29, 2015