By SARAH EL DEEB
FILE – In this Sunday, March 31, 2013 file photo, a bodyguard secures popular Egyptian television satirist Bassem Youssef, who has come to be known as Egypt’s Jon Stewart, as he enters Egypt’s state prosecutors office to face accusations of insulting Islam and the country’s Islamist leader in Cairo, Egypt. After more than four months away, the man known as “Egypt’s Jon Stewart” returns the airwaves Friday in a country radically different from the one he previously mocked. Satirist Bassem Youssef’s weekly “El-Bernameg,” or “The Program” in Arabic, mocked the country’s first elected Islamist president and his supporters for mixing religion and politics, took them to task for failing to be inclusive or deliver on people’s demands for change_ to the extent that some said he was one of the main reasons people turned against Mohammed Morsi. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
CAIRO (AP) — An official in Egypt says complaints already have been filed against a popular television satirist, less than 24 hours after returning to air following a coup in the country.
Bassem Youssef, often compared to U.S. comedian Jon Stewart, mocked the new pro-military fervor gripping Egypt in his program aired Friday night.
By Saturday, an official said at least four complaints had been filed with the country’s top prosecutor, accusing Youssef of defaming the military in his show.
The official said no investigation into the complaints had started yet. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to journalists.
Youssef used satire to criticize Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, ousted by the military following popular protests in July. Morsi supporters also sued Youssef, leading to his brief detention.
