CAIRO: Egyptian prosecutors are probing new complaints against popular satirist Bassem Youssef, this time for “insulting Pakistan” and “spreading atheism,” judicial sources said yesterday.
The wildly popular Youssef — whose weekly political satire programme Al Bernameg (The Show) has spared few public figures of merciless critique — is currently on bail pending investigation into charges of insulting President Mohammed Mursi and Islam.
The new lawsuits accuse Youssef of “insulting the state of Pakistan and causing tensions in its relations with Egypt.”
He is also accused of insulting religion and “spreading atheism.”
In an episode after Mursi visited Pakistan in March, Youssef made fun of a hat worn by the president when he received an honorary doctorate from a university in Islamabad.
One lawsuit claimed that Youssef was attempting to “spread atheism” after he allegedly made fun of the prayer ritual which constitutes “questioning one of the five pillars of Islam.” AFP
