New chairpersons at Egypt's state-owned publications were announced by the Shura Council on Tuesday.

The new chairpersons are: Mamdouh Wali at Al-Ahram, Ahmed Sameh at Al-Akhbar, Yehia Zakaria Gahanem at Dar El-Hilal, Mustafa Abu-Zeid at Dar El-Their, Mohamed Gamaleddiin at Rosa El-Youssef, Kamaleddin Mahgoub at Dar El-Maaref, Shaker Abdel-Fatah at the Middle East News Agency (MENA) and Sayed Abdel-Fatah at the National Company of Publications.

Controversy surrounded some of the appointments, particularly Mamdouh Wali, who is said to be linked with the Muslim Brotherhood. Wali has denied all links with the group.

The Shura Council appointed new editors-in-chief at eight state-owned publications on 8 August.

Many journalists have said the Shura Council should not have the authority to appoint chairpersons and editors-in-chief at state-owned publications because such powers were abused under the previous regime.

The appointments were seen by many journalists as an attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood to control the state-owned media.