Interior ministry accuses Al Jazeera producer of fabricating news about Egypt

Sunday 25-12-2016 02:35 PM

Logo of Al Jazeera channel. Photo by Ahram news website

CAIRO, Dec 25 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's interior ministry accused Al Jazeera news producer Mahmoud Hussein of fabricating media reports about Egypt to incite people against the state institutions, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

On Friday, Egyptian authorities detained Hussein, who works at Al Jazeera channel, and accused him of joining "an outlawed group aimed at overthrowing the government." Hussein's brother was also arrested after storming his home. 

The interior ministry said in a statement that senior officials at Al-Jazeera ordered some individuals collaborating with the channel inside Egypt to continue "implementing its [the channel's] plan that aims at sedition, inciting against the state institutions and spreading chaos by broadcasting false news."

According to the statement, Hussein held several meetings with leaders of the Qatar-based channel, in which he was assigned to prepare media reports containing fabricated information about the state institutions. 

He would then send them over the Internet to be broadcasted on the channel in exchange of large sums of money.

Security forces found an archive of fabricated media reports, articles and documentaries at his headquarters.

The Qatari channel, which adopts the slogan of providing “the opinion and the other opinion,” has long been accused of supporting Egypt’s Islamist political factions, especially the Muslim Brotherhood.

Since the ouster of former president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013, Egypt has launched a severe crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood figures and their supporters. The group was designated "a terrorist organisation" in Dec. 2013.

The broadcast of the Egypt-focused television channel Aljazeera Mubasher Misr, an affiliate of Al Jazeera, was suspended in September 2014.

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