Owner of Al-Faraeen private Channel and TV host Tawfik Okasha (Photo:Al-Ahram)
Egyptian satellite television channel Al-Faraeen, which is owned by controversial commentator Tawfiq Okasha, was taken off air on Monday due to unpaid debts to the production complex where it is aired.
Egyptian Media Production City took the channel off air following several warnings, a statement from EMPC read.
According to the statement, Okasha said on air that he would not pay the money owed by the channel to EMPC, which is estimated to be LE1 million.
EMPC deals fairly with all channels, the statement said.
Okasha, a firebrand television host who is known for his conspiracy theories and his opposition to the 2011 revolution and the Muslim Brotherhood, had applied to stand in the 2015 parliamentary elections but was ruled ineligible by the High Electoral Committee, due to an invalid bank account.
His channel was also temporarily taken off the air twice in 2012: once in January, following a dispute over its broadcasting licence, and then again in August for a month, by order of the authorities.
On this second occasion, the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood, filed a lawsuit accusing Okasha of inciting violence against Muslim Brotherhood members and their then newly-elected president Mohamed Morsi.
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