CAIRO: The Nasr City Misdemeanor Court of Appeals suspended a six-month prison sentence handed down to controversial TV anchor Tawfik Okasha on charges of slandering his ex-wife.
The court suspended the sentence until Okasha’s appeal is adjudicated on before the Cassation Court. Okasha’s lawyer Mortada Mansour, who is also the head of the Zamalek SC team and is considered a firebrand for his anti-activism stances, challenged the lawsuit by saying it was power of attorney and that it was filed three months after the incident occurred.
Watan newspaper quoted Okasha ex-wife, Reda el-Kerdawy, as saying that Okasha has claimed she belongs to Al-Qaeda organization or the Islamic State (IS) group, and that she plans to murder him.
She added that she won an alimony case against Okasha; however, he refrains from paying her and their son Youssef the set amount.
Okasha, a controversial TV presenter, has been standing trial since July, along with former President Mohamed Morsi, renowned activist Alaa Abdel Fatah and other Muslim Brotherhood figures over “insulting judiciary.” Their next court hearing is scheduled for October 1.
The controversial anchor came to prominence following the January 25 Revolution in 2011. Since then, he has both attacked and defended former President Hosni Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, but he has always been an adamant critic of Egypt’s political activists.