Egypt's Media Free Zone, which controls broadcasting permits, ordered on Thursday the suspension for one year of a TV channel owned by MP Tawfik Okasha, who was recently sacked from parliament for hosting the Israeli ambassador to Egypt at his home.
The decision by the body comes one day after Okasha’s Faraeen channel announced the complete suspension of its operation and that it will be put up for sale.
The suspension order is a result of numerous complaints the authority received that the channel "has violated the law and principles of operation in the media zone," head of the Media Free Zone Hossam El-Haddad told Ahram Arabic news website.
Okasha, who hosted a one-man show on the station, announced several times that he would close down the channel, at times citing financial hurdles.
The channel's announcement followed a majority vote by parliament members to strip Okasha of his seat on grounds that he "violated the principles of the separation of powers and flouted the parliament's regulations."
The meeting with Israeli ambassador Haim Koren last week sparked an outcry in the media and in parliament, with one MP assaulting Okasha with a shoe.
Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but relations between the two countries have remained cold, with many political forces, including workers and professional syndicates, rejecting any normalisation of ties.
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